Don't Judge a Louise by Her Cover
by bhve
Summary: Louise had settled into her second year of college when a guest speaker in one of her classes turns out to be a familiar face, an unwelcome, familiar face. Their lives soon become entangled with one another's leading to frequent comical banter, Louise prepping her hands for some slappin', and some disturbing emotional revelations. [Louigan]
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Alright, enough Ms. Belcher. As entertaining as your antics are, please take your seat so I can teach my class…"  
A tall, slender woman in her late 40s fixed her gaze on the 20 year old, tilting her head down and peering out over her purple rimmed glasses with one eyebrow raised and the other furrowed, but a slight curl to her lips that hinted at a smile.  
"Ah Mrs. E, you know I would never want to keep you from teaching, but sometimes a girl just has to be heard!" Louise took her seat as her classmates swallowed their chuckles and took out their English books.

The red haired teacher rolled her eyes and pulled out her lesson plan. "Ok, as you already know your final draft is due at the end of this week and then _next_ week we will be starting our section on publication. We'll be having a guest speaker – he works at a publishing company in the city and he'll be talking about the whole process of how authors get started with their books and what the publication process looks like and so on, so please be sure to come to class next Monday. And all of you will be on your best behavior…understood?" Her warning was intended for a certain brunette who had a history of asking borderline inappropriate questions whenever there was a substitute teacher, TA, or really anyone new in the classroom. "Yes, sir!" Louise clapped back with a salute.

"Tiiiina!" Louis called out through the pale pink scarf wrapped thoroughly around her neck and lower face.  
"Hmm? Oh hi. Louise. What are you doing?"  
"Trying to catch up to you!" she said, panting somewhat, her breath crystallized in the air. Going to the same college as Tina was pretty awesome in her opinion. Though Louise had matured over the years, she still found that her boisterous and vindictive nature, coupled with her dry and somewhat cynical sense of humor, left her with few close friends. She had enough "classmate friends" – the ones who thought she was funny and would work on an assignment or two with her – but when it came to "weekend hangout friends" or "let's grab a bite to eat friends", she had just a few. So every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday she'd zip out of her English class to meet up with her elder sister for lunch.

"So where would you like to eat today?" Tina asked as she adjusted her pace to a stroll.  
"PIZZA!" Louise exclaimed.  
"That's not really a place thou.."  
"Or tacos…" Louise said hungrily.  
"Still not a place."  
"Oh wait no, I got it. Taco pizza. There. The best of two worlds. Why decide when they can coincide?" she lilted.  
"So I guess we'll go to Pizza Haven then. Perfect. I caught the cashier looking at me last week and I need to see if he likes my hair like this." The girls made their way across the college campus to the restaurant located just on the other side of the dorm buildings. Once inside and in line, Louise shrugged her backpack off of one shoulder and swung it around to dig out her book.  
"Have you finished that yet?" Tina asked dryly.  
"Not yet, got about 50 more pages or so. Ugh I just love it so much! The way he writes is magical," she replied with a contented sigh. "You know T, I still think you should check out his books. I don't think I've ever been so scared in my life! Not that _I_ get scared of course, but it gets my blood pumpin' if ya know what…"  
"Look! There he is, Louise!" Tina interrupted with an urgent whisper. "Now I need you to pay close attention to how he asks me what kind of pizza I want."

Back in her dorm room, Louise emptied her backpack from the day and ruffled through her assignments to see which ones could be procrastinated. She was an average B student with the occasional C, and so far she was getting through her Gen Ed classes just fine. Math was definitely her favorite with English as a close second. Deciding to procrastinate it all, she grabbed her book, hopped onto her bed, and immersed herself into the final chapters of the thriller.

"Man, that James Harvey really knows how to get a girl going!" exclaimed Louise to herself as she closed the book, both relieved and disappointed that she had finished it. She opened her laptop and googled the author's name. There was still no news about his next book's release date and she had already read all the others.  
"Uuuugh Jimmy, my man, you're killin' me!" she huffed and then opened up her writing assignment. "To Grill or Not to Grill?" was the title centered on the page. She had found a niche in creative writing, well, in writing period. She could whip up a story in minutes and fill out every detail no problem. She attributed it to her extensive practice at lying and story-weaving throughout her youth. In actuality, writing had improved her behavior in high school because it created an outlet for her ever active and impish musings. Instead of acting them out, she wrote them out. Her fingers started tapping away at the keys as she made the necessary edits to her final draft paper. This particular assignment had been a little more challenging than most because it made her face an emotional part of her past.

Just a few years back when she was 17, her dad had taken her out for her birthday and everything was peachy cheeky keen til he told her he wanted her to take over the restaurant at some point. It was never something the Belcher's had properly discussed. There was a somewhat general acknowledgement that the eldest Belcher kids would likely run the place down if left in charge, and Louise had hinted once that she'd take over, but that was years ago. Tina had gone to college solely with the intent to meet her one true love and to survey what the larger world had to offer in terms of boy butts. Gene graduated from high school and was working with a local community theater in the next town over, doing multiple jobs and participating in the productions. When Louise responded to her dad that she intended to follow in Tina's footsteps (minus the soulmate and boy butt quest), and didn't really have any interest in the food industry, Bob was forced to hide his disappointment.

Mrs. Elbright had passed out the writing prompt – Write about a time when you have made a decision for yourself at the cost of someone or something else. Discuss the emotions around that decision. Explore the viewpoints of the other people involved (if applicable), etc. – and Louise's heart immediately sank remembering that birthday when her dad had looked so….deflated. She had tried to talk her way out of feeling guilty and her dad out of feeling betrayed by her usual banter,

"Ah Dad, I mean, who could ever run this restaurant like you? I mean, definitely not me. Let's be honest here. You're the burger master champ! And I can barely buss a table. Look! That table right there! Pathetic right? I appreciate you trying to make me feel good about myself and all, you know, offering me this place, on ma' birthday….but's that's your thing. And you're good at it, Dad…"

The whole conversation had left a sour taste in her mouth at first, because her dad was right, she could have run the restaurant well. Money and numbers made sense to her, she'd done the food orders and she had caught on quickly to the food prep and enjoyed making her own burger of the day from time to time. She just wasn't interested and to Bob, that was like saying she wasn't interested in everything he did and who he was. But the Belcher's were tight, especially her and her dad, so they made it through.

Now sitting and re-reading that conversation in her paper, Louise grabbed a lock of hair on either side of her head and tugged them down slightly in mild frustration. Her mind snapped out of her reverie as she heard the metal friction sound of keys in the door and jumped up to hide behind the door just before it opened.

"Louise? Are you hom-"

"BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!" Louise yelled as she lunged out from her hiding spot and then burst into outrageous laughter as her roommate Georgia crumpled to the floor in shock, eyes wide and glazed over in fear.

"I..h-h-haate y-y-y-you…" Georgia gasped, reaching her hand up to Louise so her friend could help her up off the floor.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"What do we have going on this weekend? Cuz' if nothing, I was thinking we could all go to a movie?" asked Georgia. She picked a piece of lint off of her rose pink, knit sweater. "Woah! Looooo, this lint totally looks like your Kuchi Kopi thing but pink! Hahaha!"

"Pah! It does! That's awesome. Um, yeah, I don't have any plans. Turned in my paper already and my classes are pretty chill right now. By 'all' does that mean you, me, _and Max_?" Louise replied.  
"Hehe…." Georgia sheepishly grinned. "You could invite Tina. I haven't seen her for awhile and I'd love to hear about her most recent romantic conquest."  
"Deal," Louise decided, "but no yucky stuff and I get to check out a few stores at the mall before the movie."  
Georgia had been a complete surprise to Louise their Freshman year. She had fully expected to be disappointed by the selection of humans at the school. Georgia lived in the same dorm hallway and through group meetings and study sessions, revealed herself to be on equal playing ground as Louise. They constantly got in trouble for pranking the other residents (or each other and on occasion a teacher) and found they had quite a bit in common. Louise could just be…Louise, around Georgia – she didn't feel the need to be comical or controlling, and Georgia always saw through her schemes and conniving, she could just be herself. So much so, that in September of their first year, the youngest Belcher found herself crying into her friend's chestnut colored hair after Regular-Sized Rudy had confessed that the long distance relationship was getting hard and that he had met someone at his college in Virginia…

"You wanna go ahead and text that fart-brained love puddle boyfriend of yours, and I'll call my love-brained fart puddle of a sister. Tomorrow evening at 6 so I have time to survey my Christmas wish list items before the movie."  
"Ah, what's going on the list this year for good ol' Nick?" asked Georgia.  
"Well, still holding out for a shark, of course, but a few books will do too. Maybe a new hat, who knows?" Louise answered.

Late Saturday morning, Louise was listening to music and doodling on one of her homework sheets when her phone rang.  
"Tina, Tina, Tina, wonder what she wants," Louise tsked to herself as she swiped to accept the call, but she never missed a chance to mess with her sister. In a deep, husky voice she began, "Hey! Sorry we got disconnected, I have really bad reception out here. So about the evidence…it needs to be destroyed by tonight. I've got the body taken care of so the rest is up to you…". Georgia stifled her giggles from the other side of the dorm room.  
"Uuuuuuuunnnnhhhhhhh," Tina groaned.  
"Hello? You there? Wait, are you chickening out? You gunna turn me in, aren't ya?! Where are you right now!? TELL ME!"  
"UUUUUUNNNHH gotta go BYE!" Tina blurted out and hung up. Louise turned to Georgia, "Now watch this, Georgie Pie." Georgia grinned and rolled her eyes. Sure enough, Louise's phone rang again and Tina's picture popped up on the screen. She answered the call and put the phone on speaker, silently shushing Georgia.  
"Oh hey T, what's up?" Louise casually asked.  
"Louise" *pant pant* "Louise, I think I'm in trouble I called a wrong number aaaaaand I think someone murdered someone aaaand now since _I_ know, someone is going to murder _me_!" she vomited out the rushed message with panic soaking her voice and continued groaning and panting frantically in the background. Louise could tell she was pacing.  
"Jeez sis, that sounds pretty bad!" Louise sympathized. She gasped into the phone and then paused before continuing, "Nah….no…it couldn't be. I heard about a serial killer that is going after dark haired girls with glasses….Tina…I think this is it, man. Say 'goodbye' to the world, Little T…" Georgia had moved over and onto Louise's bed to listen with a huge grin on her face.  
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, then "Louise…I need to call Jimmy Jr. to apologize and tell him goodbye and that I've always loved him and – "  
Georgia burst into laughter not being able to contain herself anymore and Louise followed suite.  
"Louise! It's not funny that I'm about to die!...Wait a minute. Was that you on the phone earlier?" Tina matter-of-factly asked. "Oh I see," she said realizing what had happened and that she was in fact, not going to be murdered. Louise couldn't talk yet because she was still laughing so hard. Playing games with her sister never got old, in part because Tina never held a grudge against her, so she never had to feel guilty, which was a feeling she hated. Louise had started to take more breaths and was regaining control. Georgia had tears in her eyes from the ordeal.  
"Well in that case what I was calling about is still applicable then because I won't be dead. I'm not going to the movie because I have a date with the pizza guy. We're going to a concert that's just showing tonight and actually, I need to go because he doesn't know it yet and I need to tell him early enough so he has time to get ready. Okay I love you, bye," and with that, Tina hung up.  
Louise was so giddy from her joke that she didn't mind the fact that she would now be the third wheel. If it got to be too miserable, she could just duck out to see a different movie.

It was close to 5 pm and Georgia was curling her shoulder length hair into big, flirtatious waves. "My sweet little Loo Loo, come here doll face. I wanna do your hair," she chimed after finishing her hair off with some hairspray. "And your face. Let me put your face on for you too. Pleeease?"  
"Like this face needs makeup!" Louise jokingly boasted. "This is a natural beauty, Georgie Pie, and you don't mess with nature or it'll mess you up!"  
"Even majestic mountains have flowers on them, Louise. And it's just make up and maybe a loose curl? Please? For meee? It'll take no time. You can read while I'm doing it. Better yet! Show me one of those weird cat videos you were talking about. We can watch them while you just sit and pretend nothing is happening." Georgia grinned and raised her eyebrows a few times at Louise.  
"I like your crazy brain so much it disgusts me! 'MeowzCat the Ballerina Goes to Outerspace' it is!" and she grabbed her phone to pull up youtube while Georgia moved her chair into the bathroom for Louise to sit on. Louise had let her hair grow out (moreso out of laziness than intent) and since she never really styled it, it was a thick and silky, shiny jet black. Though she only joked about being beautiful, the truth was that she had received the best combination of genes from her parents. She had sharp facial features with large, dark eyes. She had her mom's height with just slight curves here and there. When she did let someone doll her up, plenty of people would take second glances. Georgia put a gentle wave into her hair that made it snake down her back and over her shoulders. She then gave Louise a small winged eye with pale pink lip gloss and called it done. They went out to the car and Louise climbed into the backseat so that Max could sit up front when they picked him up.  
"My dear Georgina, chauffeur me to the cinema! _And do make haste_!" Louise ordered Georgia in a high-nosed British accent while waving her hand at her in a dismissive manner.  
"Yes, good sir," Georgia replied in kind.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Can't you hear them, Max?" Louise said as she very seriously stared right into his green eyes. "Can't you hear their cries? Their pain and suffering? – _Someone come save us from shelf purgatory! Eeeeee ahhhhhhh uuugh_ ," Louise whispered the words in a small, high pitched voice to imitate some far off cries for help as she waved her arms around like she was distraught. She then turned to Georgia and put a hand on her arm and squeezed, "Georgia, don't you see? This is my destiny, my burden - _I_ must be the one to save them!"  
"I understand, Louise. Go to them. Save those books from book prison!" Georgia replied. "And if you should die trying, at least your death will not be in vain!"  
"You two are so weird," Max said as he chuckled. "Movie starts at 7:25 so meet there a little after 7 to get tickets, yeah?"  
"You cannot rush destiny Sir Maximillian, but I will hasten my journey as much as possible."  
Georgia smiled up at Max who was shaking his head with a grin on his face. "I like you a lot," she said and looped her arm through his and they walked off to go window shopping.

Louise wanted to check out two stores in the mall – the music store, which was a super hip, small little nook in one of the mall's corners that always had good music playing and carried little odds and ends similar to Louise's tastes, and the bookstore. The music store came up first so she stopped in to browse and look for any CDs she might want for Christmas. She found a couple of CDs and put on the store's headphones to listen to the demos. It was such an odd thing, but she loved wearing the big, old fashioned headphones because it reminded her of her bunny ears. The weight of it and the muffling of sounds and outside noise due to her ears being covered – it felt wonderful. She had a couple of beanies that she'd wear for the same reason, but the best part about the headphones was that they came with great music – " _Oh my Ghandi that'd be a great idea! A beanie with built in speakers or ear buds for listening to an mP3 player! Someone should invent that_ ," she mused to herself. She stuck her hands into the middle pocket of her dark green, knit sweater and closed her eyes to enjoy a few minutes of the music.  
When the song was over Louise opened her eyes and removed the headphones. She fluffed her hair out a bit to fix it and started to head toward the exit. She passed a tall man wearing a well-fitted hoodie with graffiti printed all over it. The hood was up over his head and top part of his face. Louise could see the cord and outline of a pair of the store's headphones. Sure enough, as she passed him, he turned his head to catch a glimpse of her back as she walked away. "Natural beauty, just like I said," Louise quietly boasted to herself.

She made her way to the bookstore to check out her favorite genre sections – comic books, How to Get Rich Quick self-help books, and thrillers. She scanned over the selection of money makers and found a few books with potential. She went to the comic books and graphic novels section and jotted down the names of two books – "Cuddly Bear Ninja, Seeker of Revenge" and "The Onion That Smelt". She leaned in close to the books and whispered, "Don't you worry, my sweet little mutilated trees…Momma will be back for you." She made her way over to the thriller/mystery section and reviewed the books she knew all too well. She absent-mindedly tugged the section of her hair on her right side and let out a 'sigh'.

"Fan of James Harvey, huh?"  
Louise startled at the sound of a male voice so close to her - it felt like his cologne had punched her in the face when she turned to look at him. She saw that it was an employee. She also saw that he was leaning over her slightly and that his eyes were tracing her body.  
"Don't pretend like you know me!" she yelled. "And no, I am not a fan. I just happen to be standing here, right in front of the JAMES HARVEY section, sighing longingly RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE JAMES HARVEY SECTION specifically because I am NOT a fan of James Harvey, " she continued, her voice dripping with sarcasm and a little louder than it needed to be.  
"Woah! Forget I said anything!" the man said and put his hands up in defense. He backed up and turned to walk away. Louise heard him mutter, "Pretty, but a loudmouth…ain't dealing with that…"  
She grinned and called after him, "Wait, hey! Do you know when his next book comes out?! Hello? Talkin' to you, you walkin' Axe commercial," She had the attention of all the other shoppers at this point. Some snickered, others gave her a look she knew all too well. Their expression conveyed judgment and condescension.  
Louise had learned to ignore those looks from an early age. The only opinions that mattered to her were those of her family…but even they were kind of ninny-headed.

Louise grabbed one of the Harvey books off of the shelf and then dug an index card with writing on it out of her pocket. She glanced around the store and at the desk and found no one to be watching. She walked to the "Store Recommended Books" showcase at the entrance of the store and replaced one of the books with the thriller and the card. "There you go," she whispered to the book. "You've got a better view from here."

She spun a 180 on her heel and with her eyes closed in a big grin, ran smack dab into an unsuspecting customer heading toward the counter to check out. In the process he dropped the books in his hands and Louise was knocked back into the table. She turned to steady the Harvey book and the man bent over to pick up his books.  
"Woah hey! Watch your body man. I'm existing here!" Louise said as she turned to look down at the guy. She saw the graffiti'd back of a hoodie.  
"You! You, watch your salacious eyes too! Caught you checking me out at Mandy Mandolin's Music Store. This," she paused and gestured up and down her body, " _is more than you could handle_ ," she whispered, "Goes for you too, Mr. NEVER Employee of the Month! I will gut punch you!" she shouted and pointed a threatening finger over at the clerk from earlier. She stormed past the man as he was standing to his feet and on out the door toward the movie theater.

Taking a deep breath and stretching up to his full height, the man flipped his hood back and snaked his fingers into his blonde bangs in puzzlement. " _Gut punch….who just threatens to punch a stranger in the stomach?"_ he thought. He took his books to the register and asked the cashier if he knew anything about what had just happened.  
"Do you know her?" he asked.  
"Not really. And don't want to now. She comes in semi-regularly though. Always spends the most time over there," he gestured with a nod, "Weird. Super weird. And mean."  
"Hm," the man acknowledged. With his books purchased, he made his way back past the showcase table toward the exit. A slightly crinkled index card with messy handwriting on it caught his eye. There next to it was a James Harvey book standing proudly, whereas most of the others had fallen over when she'd knocked into the table.

 **Howling Silence**  
by James Harvey  
"An electric plot that will keep the blood pumping through your veins up until the exciting end. A must read!"

"Oh really?" he whispered to himself and walked out.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Georgia waved down Louise and fanned a ticket in the air.  
"The line was getting long and it was getting close so I thought I'd save you the trouble," Georgia said and handed Louise the little piece of paper.  
"Sweet little piece of gold. Where's Max?" Louise asked.  
"Obtaining sustenance. Want anything?"  
"Nah, so what's this flick about anyway? Should I even waste my time and go in there ooooorr….."  
"At least come in with us and watch part of it with me. Yeah? Eat some popcorn, look for loose change around our seats…" she sang through the last few words.  
"Convincing. _Too_ convincing – like you have some kind of voo-doo mind control."

Max came back and the three went in and finally decided on seats after plenty of bantering between Louise and Max.  
Georgia leaned over to Louise during a preview for a romance movie and began dubbing the video.

Voice of the lead woman – "But you know I haven't passed gas in the last 5 days! How can you expect me to be okay!?"  
Louise picked up with the lead male – "Why is it always about your flatulence?! What about me? Why can't you love me as much as you can't fart!?"  
"Oh but I do love you! Can't you see it? Can't you…..smell it?" the woman on the big screen "said".  
Max shushed them both, "Knock it off! Guys, I'm not going to bring you out to public places anymore."  
"Hey!" Louise retorted, "We picked you up."

The lights dimmed and soft, romantic music started playing.  
"Oh come on…Georgia…..really?" Louise said but Georgia just smiled. Five minutes into the movie Louise leaned up to Georgia's ear to tell her she was going to the bathroom.  
"Ok," she whispered back, "enjoy your other movie."

Louise dipped out into the hallway and looked at the marquees above each theater entrance to decide what to watch.  
""Snowy Mountain" nope, "David Bowie: The Goblin King", not today Bowie, "Rush" hmm, maaaaybe…". Louise went up to the door to listen to the movie. Gunshots and dramatic music penetrated through the theater's door.  
"Yessss," she hissed and opened the doors to a packed theater. There were very few seats to choose from and it was too dark to navigate smoothly up the aisles, so she just opted for the first open one she saw. Pulling her legs up into a criss-cross on the seat of the movie chair, she settled in for the next two hours.

People edged up behind the person next to them thinking it might get them out of the theater faster. Louise, however, preferred to stay through the credits. On occasion she'd put her leg out _just enough_ so the person walking past her would trip up. Louise felt her phone buzz and checked her message,  
 _"Please don't sit through the credits. I'm ready to leave." Sender: Georgie Poo Poo_  
Her legs were reaching down to meet the floor when she spotted it – that stupid, idiotic graffiti hoodie.  
"Oh you have GOT to be kidding!" she said with a slight fire kindling inside. Instead of heading to the door she made her way to the man still sitting in his seat, ever ready and eager for a confrontation.  
"YOU!" she yelled. The blonde-haired head turned from side to side and then rose as its owner stood up. He turned around and made eye contact with his accuser.  
She froze.  
His eyes widened.  
The anger dissipated from her body.  
 _Logan?_ The anger returned. _Logan._

She closed the gap between the two and landed a tightly fisted jab right into his unsuspecting stomach. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Oomph!" was the sound that escaped Logan's lips as Louise's fist dealt a surprisingly mighty blow. He crumpled over with his hands wrapped around his stomach. Curses streamed out of his mouth, but Louise wasn't done. Now that he was bent over, she could reach her real target.  
 _SMACK!  
_ "That red slap mark is a nice improvement to your stupid, creepy face!" she leaned in threatening another slap, "Now tell me why you're following me," she said menacingly through clenched teeth.  
"You're a lunatic!" Logan retorted.  
"A lunatic that's ready for a slap fest! Start. Talking."  
"I didn't even know that was you!" Logan defended. He tenderly put his hand on his cheek.  
"THAT'S EVEN WORSE! Guess I'm not surprised this is how you turned out. Some creepy old guy following girls around. Oh, I'm not really your type though, am I? You probably prefer the little boys," her words were venomous.  
"ENOUGH, LOUISE." The sound of his voice saying her name so firmly snapped her out of her slap-thristy rage. "I wasn't following you. Didn't know it was you. Couldn't care less, honestly. I'm in town on business and had a day to kill. Not everything is about you, Four Ea…huh, two ears..… No bunny ears. I am actually surprised…." Logan's voice trailed off as the sight of a hatless Louise made him take note of her physical appearance – her shiny, wavy hair, the long forest green sweater, the black skinny jeans that tucked into black, combat style boots.  
When Louise realized he was sizing her up, she put her fist up again, "Your kidneys are next, StalkerBerryBush." Just then Louise felt another buzz from her phone.

 _"Louise. You have 10 seconds. Don't make me come in there." Sender: Georgie Poo Poo_

She was about to continue her abuse of Logan when she was interrupted.  
"LOUISE BELCHER. THIS IS THE VOICE OF GOD. YOU MUST LEAVE THE THEATER AND RETURN TO YOUR LIFE, DEAR CHILD." Georgia had drug Max into the theater and tried to make her voice as deep as possible.  
"That wasn't even close to ten seconds!" Louise yelled to the source of the voice.  
"I'm terrible at math! Don't judge me!" Georgia replied as she cleared the stairs to the upper aisles, now able to see and assess the scene before her. It was _not_ what she expected.  
"YOU. DIRTY. SLUTBAG! You left me to meet a guy!" Usually Georgia kept things light-hearted with Louise, but this time she was serious.  
Logan looked like he was choking down a surprised chuckle, Louise had murder mixed with mortification in her eyes, Georgia had a hurt expression on her face, and Max looked amused. He walked over to Logan.  
"Hi. I'm Max. The "Voice of God" over there is my girlfriend, Georgia. You are…?" Max had stepped into the situation realizing that Georgia wouldn't be able to navigate this conversation coolly. She loved Louise and to use her term, considered her a "booby buddy" (instead of "bosom buddy"). He imagined that she was feeling hurt that Louise had kept this detail of her life from Georgia so he took charge.  
"Logan Bush, nice to –" as he was reaching out to shake Max's hand, Louise grabbed him by the wrist and whisked him toward the exit, dragging him awkwardly past a puzzled Max and a concerned Georgia.  
"Okay, this has been fun kids, but us grown ups need to have a talk. I'll catch a taxi so I'll see ya later, Georgia," Louise said in as much of a nonchalant tone as she could fake.  
-

She wasn't sure why she needed to hash this out with Logan, but it definitely needed to be done and on her terms. She'd successfully drug him out of the theater and a ways in the opposite direction of where Georgia and Max would be leaving, when she finally stopped.  
Craning her neck to look up at the tall man, she began her tirade.  
"First! You don't get to know my friends. They're mine. MINE. Got it? Second! Your hoodie looks like a can of spray paint ate bad shrimp and crapped and vomited all over the place. Third! Get your business done and get out of my town. And fourth! You wanna check out my body? Pay up. Nothing's free in life."  
 _"There!"_ She thought very pleased with herself, _"My terms, Bush!"_

"Louise?" Logan very calmly asked. "Can I please have my arm back?"

Her face flushed red as she looked down to see she was still holding onto his wrist. She threw his arm down and away from her and crossed hers in front of her. Logan continued his reply.

"Now my turn. First, I think your friends seem like a good fit for you. They seem like cool people to know. Second, it was bad chicken, not shrimp. Third, I'll be out of here on Tuesday. And fourth, I did check you out. How much do I owe you?" and he actually reached into his back pocket for his wallet.

The youngest Belcher was silent, which didn't happen often. She stared at the sliver of green she could see in his billfold and decided to cash in on the offer.  
"How much you got?"  
"Mmm 83 dollars."  
"83 dollars?! You carry 83 dollars with you?! Jeez I think I got like, 2 bucks and some paper clips in my pocket. Guess that's changing right now though. Fork it over," she demanded and held out her hand.  
"All of it? Darling, I didn't like it _that_ much," he said in a voice dripping with honey. "$20 plus something from each of the stores you were at."  
"Deal," and she skipped off in the direction of the music store, leaving Logan behind. There was nothing quite like bribery to put Louise in a good mood. "Before I'm dead, Bush!" she hollered back to the young man wearing a graffiti print hoodie and an intrigued smile.

In the music store, Louise pulled out the CD she had listened to previously. Logan grabbed a CD of a band he liked and handed her the headphones.  
"Yes. Let's find out if your music is as bad as your clothes," Louise said as she put on the headphones. She listened for a few minutes with her lips knotted in a scowl. As the music continued, her lips relaxed and her eyebrows raised in interest. She slipped off the headphones.  
"Not bad, Loogie Bush. Not bad. Now get me two of everything!" she said cheerfully and spread her arms out wide.  
Logan shot her a glare.  
" _One_ of everything!"  
The glare intensified.  
"One CD!" she said and handed her CD to him. He took her CD and his to the front to buy them.

"Come oooon," Louise said exasperated. She was almost running through the mall to get to the bookstore. When it came into sight she could see that the same sleezeball cashier from before was pulling the store gate down over the entrance, locking it, and walking away.  
"NO! Aaagh!" She threw her arms up in frustration.  
"What book did you want from there?" Logan asked. He purposefully kept his distance in case Louise went savage and tried to beat him for not getting there fast enough.  
"Only the best books ever! I've read them all but I don't own any. I just want my own to hold and love, and nurture. I'd name it, feed it little lesser, weaker books to keep it strong, and hug it knowing that it's mine…foreeeveeeer…." Louise finished her answer with starry eyes, but didn't get to daydream long because she heard Logan laughing behind her. She spun around and glared at him.  
"You're bizarre. Take a raincheck on the book or email me the name of it and I'll order a copy for you. And here, take this CD in place of it for now," and Logan reached the bag from the music store out to Louise.  
"And how am I supposed to email you if – "  
"Email's already in the bag."  
"I want my 20 bu –"  
"Already in the bag."

She walked to Logan and took the bag from him, scrutinizing the contents, and after finding everything to her satisfaction, looked back up at Logan.  
"Well, it was nice doin' business with ya'. I gotta get home now and I just suckered a guy out of a fresh twenty that's gonna' get me there. Next time you're in town let me know and I'll let you buy another looksee." With that, Louise turned, put her hand up in a wave, and walked away.

Logan watched as she bounced away from him, but he found himself admiring how the sweater hugged her slender hips, and how her hair bobbed around with her motion and the overall way she seemed so carefree. He realized with a sigh that he was checking her out again.  
"Uuugh come on, man," he chastised himself and reached into his wallet for another $20.  
"LOUISE!" he yelled and picked up a light jog to catch up to her.  
Louise turned around surprised.  
"Here," Logan said and handed her the 20 dollar bill. He committed her baffled expression to memory. "I gotta pay up. Afterall, nothing's free in life."

He sauntered past her toward the exit, and on out to his car.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Louise decided to walk a ways and catch the bus that headed to campus. Sure it took longer, and she'd have to walk farther, but she just couldn't part with the crisp twenties that now resided in her pocket. She got on the brightly lit bus, flashed her college ID to get the free fare, and settled into the almost empty bus cabin. She opened the bag and pulled out Logan's CD in curiosity.  
" _Death, is Falling in Love with One that Doesn't Love You_ , sheesh, what a long title. _Breaking me to Nothing_ , not terrible. _Butterflies and Dragonflies_ , sounds like a National Geographic special." Louise muttered the titles to herself and then opened the cover to look at the lyrics. It wasn't bad and from what she'd listened to at the store, she wasn't totally reticent to check out the rest. She rifled through the bag and pulled out a small card.  
"Is this a business card?" Louise asked out loud incredulously.

Logan B. Bush | Work Phone: 551-601-0224  
| Home Phone: 201-321-6709  
| Email: loganbbush

"What an old man!" she said and laughed openly. After about a 45 minute drive the bus pulled up to its campus stop and Louise hopped off. She jogged the rest of the way to her dorm, regretting her lack of coat and other winter wear. Today had been mildly warm (for the season anyway), so she'd left those things at home. She got into the dorm building and walked up the flight of stairs and down the hall to her room. Ever so quietly she got out her key, gingerly inserted it into the lock, and twisted the door knob. All the lights were off and it was close to 11pm and sometimes Georgia konked out around 10:30 or so.

"Georgia…psst…Georgia? Are you awake?" she whispered into the silent room and gently closed the door behind her, swiping her phone on for light. She saw Georgia's shape on her bed with the covers pulled up over her head. " _She's sleepin' already. I figured she'd still be with Max. That's probably good. Man have I got to pee! I feel like I'm going to explode!_ ," she thought to herself as she went toward their bathroom. She went inside and quietly closed the door, keeping the light off until the door was shut so as not to disturb her roommate. She flicked on the light.

"RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWR! Georgia lunged at her from out of the shower.  
A piercingly high-pitched scream shot out from Louise as she jumped back into the bathroom door.  
"I can't breathe….I c-can't *gasp* breathe….I'm dying I'm definitely dying….." she sputtered. She had gripped the doorknob with white knucles in one hand and a fistful of her sweater right over her heart in the other. Then she felt it - warmth between her legs.  
"GEORGIA! I just PEED myself BECAUSE OF YOU!" and the laughter that had been coming from Georgia erupted into an uncontrollable, snort littered chortle that left her helpless on the floor.  
"Come here!" Louise screamed. "These pee pants want revenge!" and she crawled over to the still laughing Georgia and sat on her, pee pants and all.

Once the two had calmed down (and changed their clothes), Louise laid down and Georgia sat on the edge of Louise's bed with a stern resolve on her face.  
"I'm gonna level with you here. I was really upset earlier. I just thought, maybe…that when someone came along whose advances didn't make you want to gag, that you'd tell me….so when I saw you with your pretty boy, he is really pretty by the way, I felt hurt. Buuut, Max is like, this super emotion-savvy mythical man that shouldn't exist in real life, and he talked some sense into me. It's your life Lou, and I'll just be happy with what you feel comfortable sharing."

"Pleeeease be done. Are you done? Good gosh I think you're finally done. I thought that was never gonna end! I was sitting here thinking, 'Well Louise, this is how you go down…your friend is gonna' talk you into your grave'. I didn't tell you because there was nothing to tell! He's a punk I hated back home and I never had any reason to think I'd see him again. That's it. End. Of. Story."

A look of relief washed over Georgia's features and she melted down onto the bed next to Louise.  
"But that's _not_ the end of the story! Tell me what happened after you guys stormed out!" She rolled over onto her side to face Louise. Louise looked over to see an expression similar to her mom's when any of her kids were getting ready to dish some juicy gossip.

"Ugh you're annoying. Well, I swindled 40 bucks out of the butt brain, plus two CDs, aaaand a book. Probably my proudest swindle to date. And that's a wrap."  
"But holy cheese, Louise, did you even _look at him_? Dem' eyes and that hair. And he's tall! Nice jawline, good build, easy to swindle. He's like a dream come true!"  
Louise exaggerated the yawn that came from her mouth then said, "That's enough out of you tonight." And began pushing her friend off of her bed.  
Georgia giggled as she rolled herself safely off. "Fine! But I'm watching you, Belcher."  
-

Sunday morning, Louise woke up feeling like she'd had a drug induced dream. "Georgia…." She croaked in a froggy drawl, "Did we do drugs yesterday? Everything was so colorful…like graffiti. Lots of graffiti. Did I slap someone? My hand feels like it got to slap someone. And a stinky bus. MONEY! There was lots of money…I smell coffee."  
Georgia was already up (as usual) and had coffee brewed for the two of them.  
"Drink some coffee and all become clear, it shall," Georgia said mimicking Yoda.  
Louise stretched and sat up, stretched again, and then went to her desk with the fresh cup o' joe steaming up into her face. She took a sip of the comforting liquid and began to sift through her memories. When her mind shoved a picture of Logan to the forefront, she almost spit out her second mouthful of coffee.  
She searched around for the bag and found it sitting innocently by the door to their room. She'd set it down as soon as she'd come home last night. She picked it up and laid the items out on her desk to investigate. There were 2 CDs, a receipt, and a business card. She remembered shoving the twenties in her pants pocket and went to the closet to check.  
There they were in the left back pocket.  
"Why do my pants smell like urine?"  
Georgia was looking at the evidence of the previous night and honed in on the card.  
"You got his number?!" she squealed and spun to look at Louise.  
"Oh keep your hormones in your ovaries, please, for the love of all that is dastardly in this world!"

Georgia shot her hand out into the air and grabbed a fistful of nothing, making it look like she'd caught something.  
"Ah ha! Gotcha you pesky little pimple maker! Now get…back..in..there…!" As she finished with the last sentence, she was pretending to force something through her stomach down into her pelvis area. "There! Got it back where it belongs. K well, I'm heading over to the library to work on my project. You have fun NOT being interested in a guy and I'll catch ya for lunch." And with that she put on a coat and scarf, boots and a beanie, set her coffee mug on her desk and swung her backpack onto her shoulder as she left the room.  
"Working on a Sunday…what kind of heathen doesn't respect the Sabbath!" Louise called after her. But with Georgia gone now, Louise opened her laptop to compose an email to a certain blonde-haired chump that owed her a book.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 **Author's Note: Hi readers! I needed to make some changes to this chapter so I deleted the previous version and posted this one. Sorry for the trouble/confusion (but I seriously think this version is WAY better)!**

Georgia had a certain bounce to her step that morning as she made her way to the library. Just the thought of Louise having even the _slightest_ potential of a future romance was exciting and entertaining. She'd never seen Louise with Rudy and couldn't imagine her holding hands or cuddling, but if she knew Louise like she thought she did, then that kind of romance would be fierce, full of drama, and something she wanted to see.  
She kept replaying the previous evening in her mind – the way Max had stepped in and how Logan had seemed eager to meet him, how jumpy Louise was about it all, and how Logan had let her drag him out of the theater. She snickered at how ridiculous the two had looked when they left because Logan was so tall and Louise so small. They seemed so comfortable with each other. Georgia was enjoying all of it way too much. The truth is, Georgia felt like Louise was a long lost sister, or a friend-soulmate she never knew could exist, and she was very protective of her.  
The library was an old brick building with vines crawling up the sides. It looked ancient and had that intoxicating, old paper smell. The library was the only reason Georgia hadn't failed out of college. If Georgia spent too much time with her roommate they inevitably ended up getting into mischief or just wasting time in general. She was making her way to her favorite study spot and passed the library's café. She happened to glance over, and there, right outside the entrance, was a man that looked exactly like Logan.  
" _Can't be…."_ she thought to herself. She stopped walking and ducked in between two rows of books to get a better look. It definitely looked like him, but in place of the casual hoodie was a dark blue dress shirt and a silver/blue striped tie. Instead of jeans and tennis shoes were grey slacks and shiny, black, dress shoes. He had his hair parted and swept up and back to one side and draped over his arm was a suit jacket.  
 _"Mmm Louise! Girl got taste!"_ Georgia was thinking when she saw a few women come up to Logan and he clearly knew them by the way he greeted them. They were all dressed professionally and it looked like there was going to be a formal-ish meeting. _"Well there goes my study session…"_ and she waited until they had gone in, got their drinks, and were sitting before she made her move. She snuck into line and ordered a green tea. She crept over to a lounge chair close enough for her to listen, and far enough away to be undetected. She shifted the chair so that her side was facing them. She cracked open her rhetoric book and feigned interest in the material. Tucking her hair back behind her ear, she strained to pick up some of the conversation. From what she could make out, their conversation centered on work involving writing or a book. It felt like the meeting lasted forever but when she checked her phone, they had only been there just under an hour. In her periphery she caught Logan checking his watch and then heard him explain that he had another meeting right after this one. Georgia untucked her hair and let it cascade over her face like a curtain. She turned her body away from Logan to make sure he wouldn't see her.  
The voices had left so she turned to scan the room. As her head made it over her shoulder her eyes met a very sleek belt and light grey slacks, with a dark blue shirt tucked into them. Her cheeks flashed red. Logan crouched down next to her so he could make eye contact.

"Well well well…what are the chances of me meeting the 'Voice of God' again? Must be my lucky day! Did you enjoy listening in on my meeting?" he asked, calling her out for eavesdropping.  
Georgia looked embarrassed and panicky, but attempted to deny the charge brought against her.  
"Huh? Do I know you? Oh wait! Uh, that guy with Louise, right? How random seeing you here! How's it going?"

Logan grinned. "I am the king of eavesdropping," he said and got up from his crouching position to sit down in the chair opposite Georgia. "I spent _years_ listening to my parents' 'conversations' and bickering. If practice makes perfect, then I'm flawless."  
 _"You ARE flawless!"_ Georgia thought, now getting to admire him up close. _I have GOT to help Louise snag this guy!  
_ "Alright then, Logan. Yeah, I was trying to listen in. See, you've peeked my interest because I know Louise is lying about you and I saw you over here and thought I'd do some recon."  
"Lying about me?" Logan had a surprised look on his face. "What did she tell you?"  
"I believe her words were, 'he's a punk I hated back home'. So were you guys like, childhood friends?"  
Logan laughed. "Friends. No. Not even close. She didn't lie to you, we did totally hate each other. I was her bully and she was such a brat! Always made it a point to get on my nerves. Drove me crazy, but it was entertaining at the same time, if that makes sense."  
"It makes _perfect_ sense where Louise is concerned," Georgia agreed with an eye roll.  
"Yeah. Like her nasty gut punches and slaps. Hilarious when it happens to someone else – awful when it happens to you. Man…" Logan put a hand to his face and remembered how sensitive it had been last night.  
"Holy shins she did slap you!?" Georgia asked with laughter in her voice. "Why?" and she picked up her tea to take a drink.

Logan took a second before answering, a devious thought planting itself in his brain. " _I'll get revenge for the slap AND the punch, Four Ears."  
_  
"She didn't tell you? She uh…asked me to marry her…"

Georgia choked on her tea, coughing violently.  
"WHAT!?" she cried in complete astonishment.

"Guess she did lie about some things then. We've been secretly dating for awhile…I was the one who asked her to keep it quiet. Doesn't matter now though. Really not surprised she didn't tell you about last night cuz' I, umm, said no…." he paused and hung his head down in feigned turmoil. "It was probably really embarrassing for her…hence the slap and dragging me away from you guys. You know how she keeps to herself and hates looking foolish…" Logan let his posture slip into a slouch and hid the wicked smile dancing on his lips by putting his hands up and resting his head in them.  
Georgia was lost as to what to say or do…it didn't make sense…well, it _could_ make sense, depending on other details.

"I can't believe it! She wouldn't do something like that!"  
"But I mean, would you really expect her to let a _guy_ propose _to her_?"  
 _"Huh"_ Georgia thought. "No, I can't imagine that…Ok. _She_ said she tricked you out of some money and CDs. And a book or something. What was that about?"  
"Tricked?" Logan looked up after straightening out his expression. Then he put on a sad smile.  
"She originally bought those things for me as kind of a lead-up-to-the-big-question date. She told me to meet her at the mall to go shopping and to see a movie. She took me to a few stores which I thought was kind of weird. The book store didn't have the book I wanted so we were going to order it. But then after the movie she asked and well, you know…..so I made her take those things for herself." he dropped his gaze down again.  
Georgia was totally dumbstruck. It sounded semi-plausible.  
"But how have you guys been dating? Just, like, long distance? Have you come to town before?"  
"Mostly online but I've come a few times and she snuck out to see me. She's such a sneaky bunny."  
"Oh my gosh! The bunny thing! With the hat! I've seen that hat. But why keep your dating secret?"  
"Her parents hate my parents and don't approve of me. And I'm a lot older than her."  
Georgia was nodding as if things were becoming clear…if it were anyone _other_ than Louise, it would be too crazy. But Louise didn't do anything _unless_ it was crazy.  
"And what was up with the business card?"  
 _"Sheesh,"_ Logan thought. _"She's really grillin' me."  
_ "Oh that? I recently got a new job and wanted to show her the business cards I had printed." Logan decided that he needed to duck out before the questions got too specific and he tripped up. "Look, hey, I really appreciate you being a good friend to her and it's a relief of sorts to have this out in the open, but I can't talk about it anymore…it's just too embarrassing. I've gotta head out anyway, so uh, say "sorry" to Louise for me?" Georgia nodded silently.  
"Thanks, hope you have a good rest of your day," and with that Logan stood up, picked up his jacket, and waved goodbye. It was all he could do to keep his mirth contained until he was out of the building. Once he stepped outside into the crisp air he let loose and laughed until his sides hurt and tears were threatening his eyes. Everyone he passed looked at him like he was crazy.  
 _"Revenge hath no fury like I have, Louise."_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Louise?" Georgia had snuck into the room and sat down next to her snoozing friend. "Louiiiise, wake up."  
"Hmnnnuuuuh mmmmmmmm…" was Louise's response.  
"Pssst, I need to talk to you. Please?" Georgia asked gently. She wanted to verify some things with Louise but she also wanted to be sensitive and sympathetic.  
"HHhhhrrrrrrrmmmmmm hrm…." Louise grunted.  
"Aw you sound like a cute little, primal cavewoman. Alright, I'll let you sleep, but I just wanted to tell you that I know what happened and if you need to talk about anything, I got too perfectly good ears and some really great shoulders. I'll even get some burp rags or something if you need to like, slobber-cry. It's ugly, sure, but I understand. And hey! You don't need that guy anyway! You are strong and independent and sma-"  
"Georgia," Louise stated firmly without opening her eyes. "I think part of 'letting someone sleep' includes the cessation of speech." Then Louise stuck out her hand (still with her eyes closed) and waved it around in the air until it landed on Georgia's face. She then started probing around, poking her cheek, then her nose, etc.  
" _What_ are you doing?" Georgia questioned.  
"I'm looking for the snooze button, duh. Where's your snoozer? I just need you to stop. An off button would be better, but I settle for a snooze."  
Georgia swatted Louise's hand away. "I'm just saying that if you need anything, I'm here for you. I was there before, I'll be here now."  
Louise finally pulled herself up to sitting and rubbed her eyes sleepily. "What on earth are you talking about, you incessant banshee?"  
"Well…" here Georgia faltered. She knew that pride meant everything to Louise. "I mean, he's gotta be the stupidest person in the world to turn you down! And you stepped out to ask him which is way braver than I could ever be, and he must be some idiotic, low-life garbage-eating mongrel not to marry you!" Georgia was visibly flustered, but not as much as the now awake Louise.

"Marry me?! Who wants to marry me? Seriously, speak plain words, Georgia!"

Georgia sighed in irritation. She thought Louise was still trying to save her pride by denying it.  
"Good grief, Louise! YOU AND LOGAN. I know, okay? I know all about it. I saw him at the library today and he spilled the beans. He said you proposed and that he said 'no' and then you slapped him. That the CDs were like a pre-proposal date. The book too. And the new job with the business cards. How you guys have been dating. I should be upset with you for not telling me, and I kind of am, but instead I mostly just feel utterly heartbroken for you! OKAY? Are those plain enough words for you, LOUISE?"

Louise sat there silent, staring at Georgia. Her eye twitched…then again. A tiny breath of a deranged laugh escaped through her nose and then her eyes tightened into a scowl and a snarl formed around her nostril.  
A low rumble started in her chest and pushed its way out of her mouth through clenched teeth in the form of slow, dangerous, murderous words.  
"I'm. Gonna. Kill. Him." Then the anger exploded from her as she thrust her clenched fists up above her head, looked up as if Logan was painted on her ceiling, and yelled,  
"You HEAR that LOGAN!? YOU'RE DEAD!"

It was the first time that Georgia had been legitimately frightened of her roommate.

-

Logan's scheme had filled him with delight. It was the same kind of glee he experienced back in high school when he used to bully her. She didn't just take it, like others would have. She fought back. It was terrifyingly thrilling. Even now he knew she would want retribution, but he had figured out a potential escape. He had checked his email once he got back to his hotel room and saw that Louise had, in fact, sent him an email with the name of the book she wanted.

Her Enemy's Haunting by James Harvey.  
You better not back out, sludge brain.  
-L.B.

Logan made a few calls to people that he knew could hook him up with what he wanted. He didn't want one of the regular copies that just got sold on the shelf. He needed this book to be perfect so she wouldn't annihilate him. He wanted the special edition with the author's note at the beginning. This was the first book written by J. Harvey and Logan had a hunch that it was the first one Louise had read. He felt the need to outdo himself. As much fun as it was to tease Louise, seeing her dumbstruck silent was a weird kind of Nirvana for him. He also had a surprise that would take all the wind out of her sails.

Logan had just hung up the phone with a guy who could get him the book that very day, when his phone vibrated with a text message from an unknown number.  
Logan grinned when he saw the local area code in front of the personal number.

 _"Better square up with whatever god you believe in, because apparently you've got a death wish and I'm your own personal friggin' genie here to grant your wish." Sender: Unknown  
_ Logan pressed and held onto the message until the options came up to add the number to a contact. He hit "Make New Contact" and typed in "Spawn of Satan".  
 _"My own personal genie, huh? Ok. I want a pony. With a long golden mane that knows how to tap dance. I'd love it if he could beat box, but I don't want to sound needy..."  
"Don't screw with me, Logan Bush. You gonna balls up and meet me or what?" Sender: Spawn of Satan  
"Wow, Louise, you're so forward. I like that. ;) ;) ;)" _Logan laughed at himself. It was too much fun messing with her.  
 _"Keep jokin' and as soon as you find your balls I'm gonna cut'em off." Sender: Spawn of Satan  
"Not if I get to yours first. I've got a meeting later today but after that I'm free to brawl. I'll let you know when, you let me know where, pipsqueak."  
_Logan waited for a reply, but Louise was probably off plotting her retaliation already. He felt an odd anticipation and excitement running through his mind. This was fun.

-

Louise paced her room - back and forth, back and forth. She was muttering death threats and all sorts of expletives under her breath. Georgia watched anxiously feeling guilty about the whole situation. If she hadn't believed Logan…if she had trusted Louise to be telling her the truth…then she might not be sitting there questioning whether her friend was going to commit a serious crime later that day. Judging by Louise's current behavior, it was very well possible that she'd be heading to jail.

"ummm….Louise?" Georgia tentatively whispered. She'd already apologized a hundred times after Louise had explained what really transpired at the mall. She was about to offer a suggestion but the look that Louise shot at her froze her down to the marrow in her bones. "nevermind…" she peeped.

Shortly after, Louise abruptly stopped midstep, struck her fist down into her open hand and declared triumphantly, "That's perfect!" and followed it with a maniacal laugh any villain would envy. Without saying anything to Georgia, she grabbed Logan's money off the desk, and stormed out of the room.

"Louise! Your coat!..." Georgia tried to call out in time, but Louise was out of earshot.

-

"Thanks Marshall, I owe you one."  
"Nah, man. Anything for _the_ Logan Bush. You know that. Next time you're in this area, hit me up for a drink. On me," Logan's friend said while giving Logan a friendly clap on the back.  
"Free booze? You're speaking my language," Logan replied with a warm smile. He looped the handle of the paper bag around his wrist and slid his hand into his coat pocket. It had gotten colder as the sun had traveled closer and closer to the horizon. With his other hand he took his phone out of his pocket and sent a message to Louise.  
 _"Game time."_  
He walked out to his car and reaching into his pocket, traded his phone for his keys. He slid into a dark silver Nissan Sentra and put the precious goods on the passenger seat. Turning the key, the engine roared to life and then settled down to a gentle purr. He cranked the heat and waited for the message that would contain his destination.  
About 10 minutes later, Louise sent him a map screenshot and very specific directions to a location close to the campus. Logan typed a message a hit 'send', then took a deep breath and shifted his car into drive.

-

Louise sat huddled in a ball of anger and determination on a set of concrete steps very much like the ones where she first met Logan. The concrete was freezing and Louise was trying to ignore how uncomfortably cold her body was. She'd been there for the past hour or so replaying her history with Logan over and over in her mind. That was her strategy – only think about her anger and her hurt pride – because she knew that if she stopped to think about her near-future actions, she would see how ridiculous she was being and change her mind. Over the years she'd evolved from truly devious to wildly mischievous, so it had been quite awhile since she'd responded to something so strongly, but for some reason, Logan turned her brain into a minefield. A shiver crawled down her spine making her finger tighten on the trigger of the gun she'd acquired earlier that day. Her phone jingled in her pants pocket so she put it down next to her and took her phone out to check the message.  
 _"See you soon, Genie."_  
Louise grimaced. _"Good."_ She thought and looked up at the sun that was flirting with the horizon. The street lamps around the little concrete park were out, so as the sun went away, so did her light. Louise jumped up and bounced around like a boxer getting ready for the first round. It wasn't long before she saw headlights slowly drive by, reverse, and park.  
"Alright Louise Belcher…showtime," she said out loud to herself. She walked back to her step, picked up the 'peace', and hid it behind her back.

Logan turned off his car and got out with the bag in his right hand.  
"Hey! Where's my pony?" he called out to the small, shadowed figure. As he came closer, Louise became more visible.  
"Logan. Logan. Logan. You think you're so smart. SOoo clever. It's all fun and games with you and it doesn't matter what others have to pay for your entertainment. Does it? Maybe they pay with their most prized possession, maybe they pay with pride. Today, however, you get to pay for _my_ entertainment. Unlucky for you, inflation is a B, so your price is a bit higher than mine was. You? Today you pay with your life," and with that Louise revealed the gun and pointed it at a shocked Logan.  
Logan's previously playful smile was wiped from his face when he saw the black handgun. His breath refused to leave his lungs and he could feel his heart beating clear up in his throat. He put his hands up in surrender, the bag with the book hanging on his wrist.  
"L-L-L-Louise….." he managed. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean for it…I didn't know you'd be so upse-…"  
"SHUT IT, BUSH!" Louise interrupted. "What's in the bag?" she demanded.  
Logan had forgotten about the book when his brain had seized up in terror.  
"It's uh…it's your b-b-book," he stammered.  
"Toss it over!"  
Logan did as he was told and lobbed the bag toward Louise.  
Louise carefully reached down and pulled out her requested book, gun still pointed at Logan.  
"Why does the cover look wrong? You pulling something, Bush?" she accused.  
"It's a," he tried to swallow the lump in his throat, "a special edition with author's note and…and signature."  
Louise's eyes shot up from the book to Logan. "You're lying! I know you are! But I'm gonna check anyway. Don't you move!" she warned and held the book against her stomach so she could open the book with one hand. There on the inside cover were penned words in an elegant cursive,

"Reading is a beautiful escape that serves to teach, inspire, and create. Those who pursue reading are the teachers, the inspiration, the creators. Keep escaping, Louise.  
\- James Harvey"

Her manned arm dropped to her side. She put the gun down on the ground and let her fingers glide over the dried ink. Logan found he could breathe again.  
"Logan…" she whispered and looked up at him with shining eyes.  
"I saw you put one of his books on that table in the bookstore. I have some serious connections so…I uh, pulled some strings," Logan said timidly.  
Louise's feet moved her toward Logan and before she knew what her arms were doing, they had wrapped themselves around his torso and her face buried itself into his chest.  
This was almost more shocking than having a gun pulled on him. His eyes darted down at Louise, then back up, to either side, and back down to Louise, while his brain tried to process the past 5 minutes.  
 _"Oh thank the beautiful heavens for that book!"_ he thought to himself.  
After what seemed like a lifetime, Louise pulled away from Logan and swiped at something under her eyes.  
"Louise…are you okay?" he asked softly.  
"Yeah! Why?! What's it to you?" she snapped back, trying to cover how vulnerable she felt at the moment. _"What's wrong with me?!"_ she mentally slapped herself and then she sniffled.  
"Are you crying?" Logan asked incredulously.  
"NO!" and she crossed her arms over her chest with the book held tightly against her body.  
Logan was starting to gain mental control again.  
"Umm, Louise? Does this mean you uh… _aren't_ going to shoot me?"  
His question seemed to re-center Louise back to her regular self and self-control. She walked over to the gun, picked it up, and walked back to Logan with fire in her eyes.  
Standing just 5 feet away from him, she pointed the gun at his head.  
"No."  
And she pulled the trigger.

"BANG!" she yelled as loud as she could and out of the gun came a stream of freezing cold water. It hit Logan right on his left temple and trickled into his eye and down the side of his face. His reflexes had contracted every muscle in his body and for a second he thought the liquid on his face must have been blood. His legs then gave way and he collapsed into a pile on the concrete below him. Louise, of course, was howling in amusement at the sight of the mighty Logan on his knees on the ground, looking paler than poached chicken. It took Logan a few minutes for his heart to beat normally again and for feeling to return to his legs. Still on the ground, Logan dropped his head and to both his and Louise's surprise, laughter started to bubble up and out of him. His shoulders started shaking with the laughter and Louise was startled out of her own fit of giggles. He was laughing so hard at this point that he rolled back, off of his knees, onto his butt.  
Then it happened to her too. Little blurps of laughter freed themselves from her lips until she was laughing just as hard as Logan. As he tried to gain control over himself, he reached up a hand to wipe away the water on his face. It was then that he realized his hands were cold, as were his toes, and his now wet face. He stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets. At the thought of himself being cold, he looked over at his assailant and noticed that Louise only had on a loose hoodie, jeans, and boots. Still chuckling, he shrugged off his coat and took the few steps toward Louise and draped his coat over her trembling shoulders.  
"Come on. It's cold and I'm hungry."  
Louise watched Logan walk to his car and weighed her options. It was frigid outside and she had walked there. Following Logan meant immediate reprieve from the cold and possibly free food. She nestled into Logan's coat and registered the smell of some kind of warm vanilla.  
"Only if you're buying!" She called after him and then ran over to his car.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

As soon as Louise sat down in the passenger seat, her body came back to life. She had grabbed her book and water gun before running to Logan's car, so she set the gun on the floor of the car and put her book on the seat next to her. She sighed in relief as she tucked her legs up under Logan's coat and wrapped it tightly up around her chin. The smooth leather seat felt like a downy pillowtop mattress after sitting on the concrete for so long. Logan turned on the car and air started to blow into the cabin. It warmed up quickly, much to Louise's delight. She scooted up to the edge of the seat and while holding a lapel of his coat in each hand, she put one on either side of the air vent, essentially trapping all the hot air from that vent in the coat. A euphoric moan slipped out of her mouth which caught Logan's attention. He looked over at her and smiled.

"Should I give you a moment with my car?" Logan teased.  
"Yes. Yes you should," Louise said as she reveled in the feeling of heat on her skin, seeping into her clothing, defrosting her aching, frozen joints, muscles, and bones.  
"Forget your coat? Or was freezing out here some part of your sick, twisted plan?" Logan asked.  
"Mmhmm…if the water gun prank failed, I was gonna pin my death on you."  
Now that she was sufficiently warmed through, Louise wrapped the coat back over her chest and then scooted back into the seat.

"Can we go now?" Logan asked. He turned the fan dial down to a comfortable warm. He looked over at Louise. She had put her arms through the sleeves of his coat and popped the collar to cover her lower face. She had her head tilted down staring at the inside cover of the book in her slender hands. When she popped her head up to answer him, she reminded him of a turtle.  
"FOOD!" she exclaimed in response. "ANYTHING. No salads. Salads are for turds."  
Logan started driving toward the main street where the majority of the restaurants were. He didn't ask her where she wanted to go – she had said 'anything'. He wasn't one to pander or struggle to make decisions and if given the lead, would take it.

"So would you say we're even now?" Logan asked. In his peripheral vision, he saw her shift in her seat a few times. "Or if not, can we call a truce for the rest of the evening?"  
"Where would you _even come up_ with something like me proposing to you? When Georgia told me that, it was like someone had thrown up into my mouth." Louise made gagging sounds.  
Logan laughed and slowed to a stop at a red light.  
"Maybe I just know what would be most disgusting to you, yeah? I'm _that_ good." Logan boasted and raised his eyebrows at her a few times.  
Despite herself, Louise laughed at his facial gesture. She flipped through a few pages of her new book and then she pulled it up to her face with her nose all the way in the binding. Her chest rose as she inhaled that sweet and earthy smell.  
"Yeah…" she whispered. "We're even."  
This time when Logan looked at Louise, the way he saw her had altered, ever so gently. She seemed more…human, to him in that moment. It was a subtle shift in his perception of her, but an important one. Before he left for college, he had used Louise solely for entertainment purposes. He got a kick out of seeing her reactions, whether they were aimed at him or someone else. He enjoyed the challenge too, that came with Louise, but that was it. Entertainment and a challenge. Now she seemed deeper and more personable. He shook himself out of his thoughts and back into the present.  
"What are you gonna' name it?" he asked. The light turned green.  
Louise pursed her lips and thought for a few moments.  
"'Boo'. Short for 'Bookchard" – like the French version of 'Richard' but with 'Book' instead."  
"Your brain is fascinating…." Logan replied.  
"You're just jealous cuz' I have one."  
"Nuh uh!" Logan jokingly teased.  
"Yuh huh!" Louise responded.

They went back and forth like that for a few more minutes. Sometimes the other person would respond immediately, other times they'd wait awhile before saying it again. They both felt very childish.

Logan pulled into a parking spot near a restaurant Louise wasn't familiar with and they both got out of the car. Louise still had on Logan's coat and unless he asked, she wasn't planning on giving it back. Before closing the door, she picked up her book and tucked it under her arm. As they walked toward the entrance, she saw a couple leave the restaurant, linked arm in arm. They looked content and so….happy. _"Yuck,"_ she thought.  
"So what kind of food do they have here?" she asked, looking up at the Restaurant's sign.  
"They're known for their salads," he said with a grin and then he opened the door for her and waved his hand toward the entrance. "And a little bunny told me that turds like salad, so I figured…."  
Louise scowled and walked past him inside.

The two were ushered to a booth near the bar of the restaurant.  
"I think, that since you put me through all this trouble, what with your filthy lies and the trouble I had to go through to teach you this valuable life lesson, sitting in the cold, getting spray paint on my hands from the watergun," she put her palm up to show him black paint on her hand near her wrist, "you should pay for my supper."  
"Ch! As if! You started this by being a stark raving mad lunatic who physically assaulted me. I was simply putting you in your place."  
"Oh ho ho! I _know_ my place, Logan Shrub. It's that blonde, empty dome of yours that's floating off into la la land." Louise started flipping through the menu as if the conversation was over and she had won.

She was surprised, when after a few minutes, he hadn't responded. Then she felt a 'flick' against her forehead. She recoiled and blinked multiple times then looked down to find what she knew to be a spitwad. She heard Logan cough, but it sounded like he was trying not to laugh. She found the rolled up, spitty piece of paper by her book and an ornery smile took over her face.  
"You're going down!" she yell-whispered. Her fingers frantically began ripping and rolling and then shoving the paper bullets in her mouth. She felt another 'plap' against her cheek. Logan laughed.  
"Sir! We're taking heavy hits! I repeat, we are under attack!" then she switched to a different voice, "Alright soldier, open fire!" Louise alternated between using her straw and just throwing the spitwads at the man sitting across from her. Two of them landed in his hair which distracted him enough for her to shoot one in his ear.  
They were able to get a few rounds back and forth before a waitress walked up to their table to take their order.  
Both Louise and Logan stopped immediately and rushed to hide their arsenal and weapons, however, the woman had already noticed what they were doing.

"Really?" she asked with a sneer. "Just tell me what you want to eat."

Louise hadn't chosen anything yet and by her frantic flipping through the menu, Logan could tell.  
"I'd like the philly cheese with fries and she'll have…a chicken sandwich?" Logan phrased Louise's order as a question and looked at her with a "does that sound okay?" kind of look.  
"Ehh…." she said and shrugged her shoulders.  
"Steak dinner with potato?"  
"Meh…" she said again.  
"Bacon burger with onion rings?"  
"And a coke," she added, turning to the waitress. Logan smiled.  
"Me too."

The waitress jotted down the order without a word. She picked up their menus.  
"You're shields are gone now, so don't make a big mess…" she warned and walked away to put in their food order, obviously unamused.

They were both snickering as she was walking away but as soon as she was out of view, giggling could be heard from their table. Louise then made the mistake of looking up at Logan. Just as she looked across the table, he did the same, and for a brief moment, the most awkward instance of eye contact occurred. Their eyes darted away and down from the uncomfortable situation. Logan cleared his throat. _"What was_ _ **that**_ _?"_ Louise wondered. Silence fell on the table as they waited for their food. Fifteen minutes of 'nothing' passed– Louise absent-mindedly fiddled with a button on Logan's coat and Logan twisted the remainder of his napkin - when finally a young man brought the plates to the table.

The food smelled delicious and they both dove in, realizing just how hungry they each were. Louise snuck a glance at Logan and saw that he was only halfway done with his sandwich but that all of his fries were already gone. She looked down at her own plate and saw four onion rings still waiting to be devoured but less than half of a sandwich. Logan caught the motion of her head moving and looked up. He looked at her plate, then looked at his, then back at Louise. She was looking right at him but this time there was nothing awkward about the eye contact. This time, it was a challenge.

Louise started shoving onion rings in her mouth, chewing with a fury. Logan responded by taking a huge bite of his steak sandwich and following it with a long drink of coke. He egged Louise on by looking straight at her and raising his eyebrows as he swallowed his bite. Done with her onion rings, Louise quickly took as big a bite as Logan's out of her burger. She swallowed the mouthful half-chewed and took another ginormous bite. Logan was trying to chew his sandwich as fast as possible when he saw that she only had one bite left. He swallowed and jammed the remainder of his sandwich into his mouth. Louise's eyes went big and round at the thought of defeat. She choked down the current bite and just as she was putting the rest of the burger patty and bun into her mouth she heard Logan exaggerate his swallow, pound his fists down onto the table and declare, "DONE!"  
"NOOOoooo!" she cried, but it was muffled by the big bite of food in her mouth. "NO no no! Ugh!"

"Hey, you started it. That's what you get for challenging a three time Hotdog-Eating-Contest-Winner to a speed eating contest. Amateur," Logan said. He shook his head at her.  
"It's just cuz' you've got a big mouth!" Louise snapped. She sunk back in the booth seat, slumping her shoulders in defeat. She looked way more disappointed than the situation merited.  
"Perk up there, Loser Louise, your ears are drooping," Logan said gently.  
The reference to her bunny ears made by someone like Logan threatened to light a fire under her, but when she turned her glare on him, she saw something…odd…in his expression. He wasn't goading her. He wasn't mocking her either. He was….trying to cheer her up?

Logan watched as an inner dialogue was obviously going on in his company's mind. His own thoughts were getting a bit jumbled when he heard the ringtone of his phone. At that moment Louise was startled out of her reverie when she felt the vibration coming from Logan's coat pocket.  
"Oh!" She patted the side pockets. Reaching in and retrieving the phone, she handed it over to Logan. "Here."

He answered the phone in such a professional manner - it seemed disjointed from Louise's version of Logan Bush. He silently excused himself from the table by mouthing "I gotta take this," and pointing to his phone. He walked toward the entrance to have some privacy. Louise was grateful for the break from his company. Things felt weird and she had an odd pit down in the bottom of her stomach. _"Might be the half-chewed cow,"_ she thought to herself. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable again. The waitress came up by her side and dropped the check off without a word. Louise looked at the total and reached into her pocket to count what she had left after buying the water gun and spray paint earlier. With a quick glance over at Logan, she saw him turned away from her, still on the phone. She put a 20 on top of the check and set it by Logan's drink. Shrugging herself out of his coat she reached over and put it on his seat. Picking up her book, she scanned the perimeter of the restaurant and found what she was looking for – a second exit.

Once out the door, she walked a few blocks over, took note of the corner street names, and called a cab.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"No no, I understand, but _you_ have to understand my side too," Logan said. He was getting irritated with the phone conversation. He turned to look back at Louise and saw her digging into her pocket for something. He looked back out the window.  
"This isn't the best way to have this conversation. You know that. I know that. You also know that I always follow through. Always. You have no reason to be worried about this." Logan rolled his eyes as the person on the other line still didn't seem to be convinced. He continued to look out at the street, watching the occasional car go by. Instead of listening to the words from his cell phone, his mind was replaying the fake gun pointed at him, the hug from Louise, seeing her in his coat, feeling giddy like a 5 year old while blowing spitwads…an involuntary smile formed.  
"Yes I know, I know…..Yes, I'm taking this seriously…..No, you really don't have to be concerned. Please trust me, just like all the other times, okay? Now I really gotta' go. I'll call you when I'm back in the city." Logan didn't wait for a reply. He ended the phone call and took a long draw of air into his lungs, exhaled, and stretched his neck around in a circle. He turned around and looked at their table.

 _"Huh…guess she went to the bathroom. That dummy, she probably thinks she has to hide from the bill …"_ he thought to himself. As he neared the table, he noticed something sitting on his booth. Logan was vaguely aware of an odd feeling forming in his throat. His shoes stopped at the edge of the booth on the worn burgundy carpet. He surveyed the scene and found a 20 dollar bill on the check presenter, his coat laid on his seat, and Louise and her book nowhere to be seen. Logan let out a 'huff' and shook his head once. The feeling in his throat got worse. He wasn't about to sit back down to an empty table, so he looked under the 20 to make sure she had left enough for a tip (especially since someone would have to clean up the spitwads). He tossed a couple extra dollars on the table before picking up his coat and putting it on slowly. It was still warm…and it smelled faintly like, _"What is that?"_ Logan tried to figure out. He took a deliberate sniff of his coat collar as he left and walked to his car. _"Is that…spray paint?"_  
He stepped into his car and got the heat going. He popped up the collar of the peacoat and took another inhale. That lump had morphed into a knot down in his stomach. He cocked his head to one side and rested one hand on the steering wheel, the other still holding his phone. Something bothered him about her ditching out like that but he wasn't quite sure why. He really shouldn't care, and he knew that and she'd even paid for the food, but it still seemed…rude? Frustrating? Disappointing?

"Oh this is putting me in a very bad mood..." Logan grumbled to himself. He opened his contacts on his phone and scrolled down to the S's. He typed out 5 or 6 different messages – some sounded perturbed, some callously chill, and others almost desperate - before cursing in annoyance and tossing his phone on the passenger seat. From there his eyes went down to the floor of the passenger side and he saw the water gun she had painted black.

"Ugh. I just need to go back to my room and be done with this day!" As Logan drove back to the hotel his mind went through all the possible reasons as to why he was on the verge of being angry. He wanted to call her and create an argument, he wanted to annoy her and make her yell. Maybe he wanted some gratitude for the trouble he went through to get the book. Thinking back, she didn't _technically_ even say "thank you". She just hugged him. That hug. His brain replayed her quick steps toward him, and arms tight around his midsection, her face pressed against his chest, how cold she felt, how much taller he was than her, the very faint smell of her shampoo, the sound of his name in her voice…..  
 _"What the heck?!"_ Logan mentally cried out. He decided that he was done with whatever witchery came with Louise Belcher. He wouldn't text her. He wouldn't try to give her back her prank prop. He wouldn't think about her. Enough was enough.

_

Louise steeled herself outside her dorm room door. She knew what was waiting for her on the other side. Throughout the whole evening she hadn't thought to message Georgia even once, and with how she had stormed out, Georgia was probably prepared for the worst.  
"Alright Louise-ee, here we go…" she whispered to herself and then opened the door.

Louise poked her head around the door and saw Georgia and Max sitting on her bed watching the tv. At the sound of the door Georgia looked up and saw Louise.  
"LOUISE!" she cried. She jumped up from her bed, almost knocking over Max, and ran to the door, opening it the rest of the way and dragging her friend into the room.  
"Georgia!" Max interrupted. "Remember what we talked about."  
After Louise had left to confront Logan, Georgia called Max, asking him to come over because she was worried. While there, Max discussed with Georgia just how unlikely it was that Louise would get herself into any serious trouble – she was too cunning for that. He also reminded her that their friendship was a one-of-a-kind, scarily compatible, built on a mutual respect of privacy, kind of relationship.

Georgia nodded appreciatively at Max, took a deep breath, and turned back to Louise. She put a hand on either of Louise's shoulders.  
Calmly but still earnestly, she asked, "Is everything okay?"  
Louise smiled at her friend. There was no one quite like her Georgie Poo Poo Bear.  
"I scared the fantastic feces right out of his stupid ugly butt." She flashed a devilish grin at Georgia and Georgia responded with an unwelcome hug. She let go (not soon enough for Louise) and they silently agreed that everything was a-okay between the two of them and that the conversation was over for now.  
"Wanna watch the rest of _Die Hard_ with us?" Georgia offered.  
"Nah, gonna listen to some music and detox from the day," Louise said and went to her desk. Her desk faced away from the TV so they were facing opposite sides of the room. After she heard the movie volume go up, she peeked behind her to make sure they were both watching the tv again. She then reached behind her down to her lower back. Tucked into the top of her pants and hidden underneath her hoodie, was her new book. She set it tenderly on her desk.  
"Don't get frisky!" she yelled back to them.

She grabbed some earbuds and popped her new CD into her computer. Her computer was old so it took a good couple of minutes before she heard it start to spin in the disc drive. She sat in her chair and her mind wandered over and over the details of the evening. They played like a movie flashback. It started with the look she had gotten from the cashier when she bought the spray paint and the water gun.  
 _"No! I must have left it in Logan's car! Guess it can be a reminder of what happens when you mess with a Belcher…"_ The flashback resumed at Logan's face when he saw her pull the gun out. Oh that dumbfounded, scared pantsless expression was like a drug to her!  
Then her mind lingered over the details of him giving her the book. In the present she reached her hand over and caressed the cover. She silently snarled at herself as she recalled what had happened next. _"I can't believe I hugged some loser stalker over a book!..."_ she thought. She didn't want to dwell on the hug, but her brain wasn't listening. Firm. He was firm. His coat had felt soft and expensive. She barely cleared his chest. He was warm. The flashback hovered on that memory for a few seconds. When it did move on, it reminded her of how soft and gentle his voice had been when he asked if she was okay. What a weird behavior from Logan, she thought.

The CD had finally booted up and the first song started playing. It momentarily freed her from the weird prison that was developing in her mind and holding her thoughts hostage.  
The next thing she recalled, however, was welcome. At the thought of 'shooting' Logan, she almost laughed out loud. The car ride and the restaurant were uncomfortable to think about though – how unsettled she had felt – and that came up next. It was too unlikely that they could have a civil time around eachother, let alone a _good_ time. But she had. She had had a good time with Logan Berry Bush, and that, unnerved her.

She checked her computer screen to see if it was late enough to crawl into bed without suspicion. Deeming it still too early, she searched the internet for a picture of James Harvey's signature. Maybe if it was fake she could be mad at Logan again. Multiple websites presented the same signature, and in various pictures. Real. Undeniably real. Maybe he'd send her an angry message for leaving and then she could get frustrated about that. She put her phone on her desk next to her book to watch for a notification.

After she listened to half of the CD, it dawned on Louise that she had spent the past 20 minutes or so checking her phone in approximately 30 second intervals. Louise decided she needed to be done with this. She turned off her phone and plugged it in to charge. He said he'd be gone on Tuesday and then that would be that. She'd be back to her normal self plus two CDs and the book of her dreams.

The screen on her computer fizzled as she turned it off. Taking out her earbuds, she could hear the movie and discerned that they were close to the end. She crawled into her bed with her book and started with the author's note at the beginning.

_

The movie over, Max said goodbye to both girls, and after giving Georgia a kiss, left. Georgia stretched out her limbs and turned to Louise.  
"So everything is actually okay?" she asked.  
"I _knew_ you weren't done earlier," Louise knowingly grinned. "Yes. Things are good. Everything will be good. If I need anything, I'll ask, yeah?" Georgia nodded. "I'm going to read a bit and then fast track it to slumberland. I'm positively pooped!"

Georgia laughed and shot a caring smile at her friend. She went to her own desk and decided to review the material she had intended to study that morning.

Before getting back into her book, Louise reached down to the foot of her bed, under the covers, and pulled out a pink stuffed rabbit, the head and ears disproportionately bigger than the body. She tugged at a loose thread that was coming out of the shoddy stitching job. The black thread joined her old, beloved hat to the newer, slightly lighter pink fabric that comprised the head of the bunny. She ran her fingers up one of the ears and then tucked it under her arm before opening her book back up and resuming her reading.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"You put that gun down, right now, little miss!" said her mom.  
"Listen to your mother," said her dad.  
"But it looks so good with her hat! She's got style!" said her brother.  
"She's just learning to express herself. Can't you see?" said her sister.  
Suddenly she no longer had the gun. A tall man in the shadows held it, pointed at Louise.  
"Should I shoot you? Should I _hug_ you?..." ….

Louise woke with a start. She could feel her heart beating quickly not only in her chest, but also pounding down in her fingertips. The gun in the dream was real, unlike her prank gun. It had felt heavy…and dangerous. _She_ had felt dangerous…and powerful and in control. But when the gun was pointed _at her_ , that power had turned to fear and uncertainty. And she remembered that voice. The way he spoke wasn't in a questioning way at all, despite how it was phrased. He was telling her something she already knew…

She slowly sat up in the dark room and shook her head as if to shake out the memory.  
 _"What time is it?"_ Louise wondered. She glanced over at Georgia's alarm clock.  
 _"4:30? Ahhhh baby, I can sleep for 3 more hours!"_ Louise felt around and once she found her book, closed it, and slid it under her pillow. She undid her pants and pushed them down to her knees, then pulled them off by the feet. She hated sleeping in jeans.  
 _"Bunny, bunny…bunny…"_ she padded around her bed looking for the stuffed toy. _"...Bunny!"_ The head of the rabbit tucked under her chin, she wrapped her arms around the body of it and pulled her knees up to her chest. She shut her eyes.

….. _"Should I hug you?"…._

Her eyes opened.  
 _"STOP IT, Louise!"_ she silently snapped at herself. _"Now go to sleep!"_

She tried the same position but facing the other direction. Then she tried on her back. Then her stomach. Back to her side.  
 _"5:05? Ugh!"_ Louise tried to shut her eyes and 'blank out', but her mind was reeling. If it was possible to bottle this mental alertness and make it into a drug, she would have been rich. Her brain wouldn't shut off, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that all her brain wanted to do, all it _could_ do, was think about Logan. She kept thinking about his blonde hair and how tall he'd grown. She thought about how the blue dress shirt fit his body perfectly but at the same time seemed disjointed from what she knew of his personality. The slacks looked great on him, and for a second she sympathized with her sister's butt obsession. Her brain reminded her of his coat and how it'd smelled and felt. She thought about how fun it was to call him names and insult him and how he'd throw things right back at her. Though his voice hadn't changed much, the way he spoke had…he was quick-witted, smart, playful rather than bully-ish. And his smile…

 _"5:47? Get a friggin' grip on yourself girl!"_ she thought while throttling her pink bunny, imagining Logan's face in place of the embroidered one. Another half hour passed in this manner until Louise gave up on recouping some of her lost sleep. Georgia usually got up around 6:30am on Mondays so if Louise was quick, she could avoid the subtle, yet inevitable, probing. She grabbed the jeans she'd previously disrobed, and put them back on. She got up out of bed with her book in hand and felt around for her phone, key, and shoes. This time she took her coat.

Usually around this time of year, 6:20am was still dark, but the moon was bright and it danced on the pavement in front of her. The air felt sharp in her throat and heavy in her lungs, but it was refreshing. She made her way to the library which was open 24/7 for studying, or in her case, avoiding her sleepless bed. The walk was helping to clear her mind now that everything felt real again, and normal. This was just a normal school day with a normal Louise.

In the library she found only a handful of students. There was one group that looked ready to pass out, implying they'd pulled an all-nighter for a test which, more than likely, was later that day. There was a lone student doing some form of work, and then there were a few people waiting outside the coffee shop for it to open. Louise picked a large cushioned chair with a side table that was not too far from the entrance of the coffee shop. When it came to coffee, the only thing better than drinking it, was smelling it, and she could smell the fresh brewed coffee just waiting to burn someone's taste buds to obliteration.

Sinking into the chair, she flipped through the pages to find the last paragraph she remembered reading. She had about an hour and a half until her first class (which was a large lecture class). She read lucidly through a few pages and was soon swept up into the well-structured plot of the book and the engaging style with which the author wrote. However, after a while, the edge of her mind dulled and her eyelids became heavy. After a few minutes of fighting the drowsiness, her head rolled back onto the soft fabric of the chair and Louise drifted into a dreamless sleep.

_

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP* *click*

Logan pulled his hand off of the hotel's alarm clock and then rubbed his eyes. A big yawn stretched its way through his whole body which released some of the pent up tension in his muscles. He got up out of bed and started getting ready for the day. He disliked hotel showers. The water always left him feeling slimy and soapy and usually it'd bother him the whole duration of the shower, but he didn't think about the water once that morning. His brain was otherwise engaged. Too many thoughts from the previous evening still whirled around in his mind and he was having trouble silencing them. He finished his hair with some hair wax and then reluctantly took his coat off of the hanger, hoping that it would be _just_ warm enough so he could get by without wearing it.

More than hotel water, Logan hated hotel _coffee_. It always tasted too bitter. Instead, he got in his car and drove to a little coffee shop that he knew had good coffee and that was close to his agenda for the day.  
_

Being on the campus reminded Logan of what his college experience had been. The first year was miserable because instead of gaining freedom from his parents, they (mostly his mother) had become _more_ intrusive. An exorbitant amount of money had been paid for him to attend a prestigious university and Cynthia would not have her bum of a son waste her money and drop out. That meant tutors and weekly check ups. She had connected with all of his teachers and paid for him to have a dorm room to himself for maximum studying. She had written probably 80% of his essays.  
Logan had tired of the ordeal, so toward the end of his first year he filed all the paperwork to transfer to a smaller community college in Delaware. He pretty much stopped communicating with his mother. She'd send him the yearly Birthday and Christmas cards, riddled with guilt trips, hidden insults, and bargaining, and he occasionally received an e-mail from his dad, but that was it, and he was fine with that. The college he switched to had been just the right size and he even found a few guys to pal around with. The best part, though? No Cynthia.

Logan had only been to the coffee shop once before but he managed to find his way back to the library. Stepping up to the entrance, he found himself in a line of about 4 students, all of which were tied to their phone screens by some invisible string. His eyes wandered around the coffee shop and back out behind him into the library.

 _"Ah the good ol' days,"_ he thought as his eyes landed on a girl clearly zonked out in a library chair, head back and mouth agape with a book in her lap. He chuckled at how ridiculous the girl looked and recalled plenty of times he had fallen asleep at the library. Then he really focused on her. _"Louise?!"_

He quickly turned back toward the front of the line. His palms were sweaty. His face flushed. He felt kind of dizzy. His breathing had picked up. He wanted to go over there and...he wasn't sure, maybe yell and startle her awake? Take a pic and embarrass her? He sighed.  
 _"No, Logan. You said it yourself, enough is enough,"_ he thought. He stole another glance over his shoulder before stepping up to give his order.

"Hey, how's it going? Yeah, one medium mocha…" Logan paused then rolled his eyes." …..Uhh yeah, I also need a medium black coffee aaaaand, how about a medium vanilla latte? Thanks."  
He tried to avoid looking at her but he kept finding his eyes pulled in her direction. His order was called and he stacked the coffee on top of his drink and picked up the latte with his other hand. He walked quietly to where Louise was sleeping. He set down the latte, then the coffee, and put his free hand into his pocket. Leaning his head down he looked at what she was reading.

 _"Chapter 3, huh? That's got some really good parts,"_ he thought. Then he pulled out his phone, found the most unattractive angle, and snapped a pic. Chuckling to himself, he left the slumbering Louise to awaken to her coffee.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Louise?...Hey, Louise…."

Louise snortled as the spit in the back of her throat was disturbed by a sudden inhale. She shot up straight in the chair and blinked a few times.

"Tina?" she asked groggily.  
"Yeah, hi, it's me, Tina. Why are you asleep in the library?"  
"Am I supposed to know everything, Tina?" she snapped a little annoyed.  
"No. I guess not. Shouldn't you be in class or something?"  
"Prrr-robably." Louise checked her phone. She had about 20 minutes before her next class. "What are you doing here, T?"  
"Oh. There's a guy - I should say, 'man' - that comes to the coffee shop here on Monday mornings. His butt may be the perfect specimen of butts, so I came to do some research."

At the mention of coffee, Louise realized the distinct smell was somewhere close to her – closer than if it was just coming from the café. She looked down at the table and saw two cups next to her. She picked one up and popped the lid off. It wasn't hot by any means, but it was still warm. She checked the other one to find it was a coffee drink of some sort. It smelled good.

"Did you get these?" she asked her sister.  
"No."  
"Did you see who got these?"  
"No."  
 _"Huh"_ she thought. They were clearly intended for her. Maybe Georgia? She had a habit of leaving things or getting things for Louise without any rhyme or reason, or explanation for that matter. She pulled out her phone and sent a message to her roommate.  
"Well would you like one of these?"  
"No. Uh. Maybe. Do you think if I have coffee I'll look cool, I mean, cooler, when I go in there? I'm going to sit near him and try to engage him in conversation."  
"Definitely, T. He'd be crazy not to fall for a girl with coffee," she said sarcastically. "Especially if it's black coffee. Here take this one. It's a winner for sure." She handed the cup to her sister.  
"Thanks! I'm going to go make my move!" and she walked a few steps before turning back to Louise. "Oh, and I love you! I'll see you at lunch. I'm trying to be more affectionate. Was that more affectionate? Cuz that's what I was going for….." she trailed off.  
"Spot on, Tina. I'm suffocating in affection over here…" she assured her sister.  
"Phew good. Bye!"  
She shook her head as she watched her sister attempt to saunter and sway her hips as she walked into the coffee shop.

Louise picked up the vanilla latte and took a sip. She waited a minute to see if any poison was working its way through her body. _"Still alive! Looks like today's my lucky day!"_  
 _  
_Rather than go to her lecture class, Louise decided to head back to her room and take a shower. Her hair was greasy and faintly smelled like spray paint fumes. Louise raised one of her arms curiously.  
 _"Wooo-eee! I smell like B.O. and paint chips had a lovechild…."_

It was a fresh, crisp kind of day out – the kind that looks deceptively like a summer day, with its sunshine and puffy clouds and bright colors, but turns out to be the kind of day that bites at the cheeks and nose, making them red. Louise felt invigorated by the sunshine and cold air and found her steps to be light and bouncy. She was halfway done with her latte by the time she reached her dorm building. Students were bustling out of their rooms and down the hallway, some very clearly late to class. Once in her room, she set her drink and personals on the desk. The water usually took a while to get hot, especially in the winter, so she turned it on and then went back into the room to strip. Pitching her dirty clothes into the hamper, she pulled out clean undergarments, a pair of dark red pants, a black undershirt, and a thick, oversized, black sweater. She did a lot of her shopping at resale shops, and not necessarily because she wanted to, but because her money was limited. The loans for school were hefty, so she'd tried to hold a job while at school, but her grades started sinking so her parents made some adjustments to help her out.  
With the water hot, Louise stepped in and washed the weekend away, imagining that the soap bubbles were all little, itty bitty Logans rinsing out of her hair, off of her skin, and out of her head, down into the depths of their watery grave. She even imagined them screaming little, itty bitty screams of terror. She felt renewed and fresh, like a brand-spanking-new woman.  
After drying off and getting dressed, the next thing on her agenda was to pack her bag for her classes. She grabbed her dark grey messenger's bag and assembled all of the necessary books, notebooks, writing utensils, assignments, etc. Mondays were good class days. They sucked cuz' they were Mondays, but if it weren't for that fact, Louise would have liked them just fine. The lecture class always gave her time to finish any math homework she had. Then in Math she felt comfortable enough with the material to enjoy it, _usually_. The teacher was a super goofy, somewhat socially inept, math wizard who often didn't understand Louise's sense of humor, so after the first few weeks, she naturally toned down her behavior because the audience just wasn't responding. And English composition was a real treat. Mrs. E thought Louise was funny (though she'd never outright say it), and Louise had gotten some really good marks in that class. Encouragement like that usually begets better participation and learning, and Louise was a great testament to that.  
There was still an hour or so to burn because her lecture class was an hour and a half long. She set an alarm on her phone for 9:15am which would give her enough time to get to her math class. The bed creaked a little as she plopped down. Latte in one hand and her book in the other, Louise was going to enjoy the next hour.  
"Hello, Boo. You got a date with me for the next hour. Hope you brought the goods," Louise said to her book while finding her page.

_

The hour of reading flew by and Louise sighed when her phone alarm obnoxiously told her it was time to go. She put her book in her bag, pulled on her black boots and then ran her hands through her hair. Since she'd been laying down, her hair hadn't dried completely and with it being chilly outside, she grabbed her grey, slouchie beanie and after piling her hair up and on top of her head, pulled it down over her hair and ears. Throwing her bag over her shoulders, she was out the door and merging into a group of students all doing the same.

_

The buildings where she had Math and English were right next to each other so she always got to English right as the previous students were leaving the room. Louise wasn't one to wait, however, so she pushed through the stream and made her way to her usual seat. Just because she liked the class though, didn't mean she was gonna' be a brown-nosing, front row sitting, suck up. Her spot was in the second to last row. Not the last, because it usually stunk back there, but the second to last. There were always about 6 to 10 students that got there early like she did, so they all filed in. In this particular class, Louise didn't talk with any of the other students aside from the obligatory "hi", so she took out her book to read for a few minutes.

"Did you see the publication guy?" said a nearby student to her friend.  
"Uh uh. Why?"  
"Suuuuper cute. Total hottie!" the first girl replied.

Louise rolled her eyes and lost her focus on her book. These two classmates in particular reminded her of Tammy and Jocelyn from back home. She had forgotten all about the guest speaker because of the events of the weekend, which bothered her – she usually had some backward compliments and borderline racy questions prepared to unnerve them and make them flounder around, and today she had nothing. She felt so unprepared! She looked up from her book and began crafting sentences in her brain, _"'So did you ever want to be a writer? Ya know, write_ your own _book, instead of publishing_ someone else's?' _", that's a good start, Louise. Attack their self-confidence!"_

By now the class was almost full. There were always the stragglers that came in 5 to 10 minutes after, and with full attendance, the class was around 35 students in total. Louise could hear the sound of Mrs. E talking outside the door. She heard her laugh, and then she heard another laugh. This one was male. Louise's brain felt some odd little tickle that said, "Hey, pay attention dummy." She turned her head toward the door and listened again. The two voices were clearer as they entered the room. Louise couldn't believe her eyes…or ears. Logan stepped into the room, stately yet comfortably. He looked…so…professional. _"This is what I was trying to tell you_!" her brain yelled. " _Now look down, ya dumbbutt!"_  
Louise looked down and away from the front of the room and pulled her beanie down a little farther, covering more of her face. Her heart was pounding. She quickly leaned down to her bag to give herself time to think. _"Logan's in your class…here, right now, up there…he's in. your. class. OH shite…he's the publication guy…"_ She put away her book, got out her notebook and pen, and took a deep, stabilizing breath before sitting back up. She contemplated ditching…but Mrs. E was pretty strict on attendance and besides, that would have drawn more attention to her presence. She decided to hunch over her notebook with her head slightly turned to the side of the room, resting on her hand, and hope for the best.

Mrs. Elbright called the class to attention.  
"Good morning, everyone. I hope you all had a nice weekend. I spent mine, of course, reading through a stack of essays. Some of which were delightful….others not so much. I'm sure you know if I'm talking about you…." She said dryly. "And no, you won't get them back today, but I'm inputting your grades as they are graded so check online. To…."

She kept talking but Louise didn't know what about. Her head was swimming. He was in her class. Right there. Did he see her? Did he know she was going to be in this class the whole time? Was this the "business" he had in town or was there something else and this just coincided? So he worked at a publishing company…Logan Bush, working with books. He had said he had connections…..that's how he got her book! Louise assumed that Logan would have a sleezier kind of job, not something like this. Oh how badly she wanted to sneak a glance to find out if he saw her or not, but she wouldn't risk it. Her mind kept looping like a gerbil running in its wheel until Logan's voice cut across the room right to her ears.

"Hey, thanks for inviting me to your class. As your teacher said, my name is Logan Bush and I work at H. J. Benjamin Publications. I've been with them for, man, feels like forever. I started with an internship there when I was 22, so I guess 5 or 6 years now? It's a pretty sweet gig, especially if you like books…and getting paid." The class chuckled but the majority of the noise came from the females in the class. Louise rolled her eyes.  
"I'm from a small-ish town about an hour and a half from here and I've been in New Jersey my whole life basically. I went to a University of my parent's choice for a year and then transferred to a smaller community college in Delaware. I got my Bachelor's in English. Took classes similar to this one. I originally wanted to write, but kinda sucked at it." Logan nodded his head in accepted shame.  
More giggles came from the girls in the class. _"That figures…"_ Louise thought.  
"So after my internship and graduating, I just stuck around at the publishing company. I did coffee runs for a good half year or so and then slowly made my way up."

Logan continued to talk about how author's come in with their manuscripts and what the process might look like for editing, layout design, royalty discussion, and circulation. He sounded very 'adult' – not like the Logan she remembered and every word was like a sharp knife digging into Louise's brain that she couldn't ignore. She was trapped in the classroom listening to Logan Bush for what seemed like eternity and was still in the exact same position when Mrs. Elbright spoke.

"Well thank you, Mr. Bush. That was a great overview. You guys can ask questions now. _Appropriate_ questions…" and she eyed the abnormally silent Louise.

A few students put their hands up and Louise mentally berated each one with multiple curse words and her own personal insults for prolonging this obnoxious torture. Logan answered each question thoroughly, much to her dismay. Finally, there was only one hand left to call on.

"What is the time commitment like for your job? Do you, like, get to see your girlfriend still, or hang out with friends?" asked one of the girls as she tousled her hair over her shoulder and straightened up with her shoulders pulled back. A groan escaped Louise's mouth as she rolled her eyes. _"Oh come on, Maggot Margot! Like he's going to answer th –"_

"You want the honest answer?" The girl nodded her head "yes". "Yes, I have a girlfriend. Hope that answers your question," Logan grinned as he said.

The whole class laughed and Margot slid back down into her chair. The girl with the grey beanie, sitting in the second to last row, however, was not laughing. She was angry. She was baring a hole into the notebook just a foot from her face and on down through the desk, hating both the person that asked the question and the person that answered it. Mrs. Elbright noticed Louise's behavior and couldn't help but keep looking at her, unaware when the laughter stopped.

Logan looked over at her since there were no more questions, and he found the teacher focused on a student in the back of the class. His eyes followed hers and found that they landed on the girl that had been completely uninterested in anything he had said the whole time. Not one glance. Not a little chuckle at his jokes, and he suspected not even a single note taken despite the paper on her desk. He'd spoken in classes before and this was unusual. Even the high school kids that _really_ didn't care, would at least look up once in a while, if not just to judge him. _"Win some, lose some, I guess,"_ he thought and then he addressed Mrs. Elbright.

"Yes, sorry," Mrs. E turned back to Logan from Louise. "Well thank you again so much for coming and for sharing with us." The class chimed in to say thank you and half or so clapped. Logan was gathering his things as Mrs. E gave final remarks and dismissed the class. Amidst the noise of gossiping girls and desks scratching on the floor, Louise could still hear his voice as he chatted casually with her teacher up front. She didn't know what to do. She could try to get passed him hidden amongst the other students, but there was a chance he'd see her, or she could wait til he left, but that looked suspicious. Then, as if her predicament had gone up to the heavens in the form of a prayer, she heard Logan say 'goodbye'. She ventured a small glance, and sure enough he was gone. With lightning speed she slung her bag over her shoulder and while she was walking, tucked her notebook and pen away.

 _"Home free!"_ she thought as she had one foot out the door.

"Louise, a word?" Louise heard from the confused teacher behind her. She considered her options. She could pretend like she didn't hear it, and book it out of there to meet up with Tina, or she could turn back to her teacher which would give Logan a bit longer to clear out of the area. What she didn't consider, however, was that maybe Logan hadn't gotten very far at all, and that he _also_ heard the stern yet caring voice call out an all too familiar name.

She heard her name called again, but this time, _not_ from her teacher. She turned her head to the left and there was Logan, dumbfounded. His eyes were wide and questioning, and somewhat embarrassed, as if he'd just been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing, by the person he was trying to hide it from. Louise couldn't reply. She just….stared. It probably only lasted 2, maybe 3 seconds, but to Louise, it felt like she was trapped in his gaze for hours.

"I-I I promise I didn't know-"

Logan's voice broke the trance and Louise took off running.

"LOUISE!" he called after.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Logan stepped out of the classroom with his things and stopped just outside of the room to pull out his phone. He had himself convinced that the reason his fingers were composing a text to Louise was because he wanted to get in one more jab before leaving the following morning. He'd already broken his promise to himself earlier by getting her coffee, so what was one more interaction?

 _"Did you enjoy your coffee this morning? Or did you get up and leave without saying a word, leaving them all alone and confused?"_  
Logan rethought it. It sounded too pathetic, like he was hurt she had left him there the previous evening. Then he remembered the picture he'd taken. He grinned.

 _"[Image attached] "Did you catch any bugs in that big trap of yours?"_ Logan chuckled to himself at the picture of her asleep with her mouth wide-open. **_[Send]_**

Students started pouring out of the classroom he'd just left. He tucked his phone back into his pocket and waved 'bye' to a couple of them.

"Louise, a word?" he heard from inside the classroom. _"…..Louise?"_ Did he hear that right? He turned to look at the door. At first he just saw the beanie hat girl. Then he saw who the beanie hat girl was.

"Louise?" Logan asked puzzled. She turned to face him. That was her. The girl in class so disinterested. But was it because she actually couldn't care less or because she was hiding from him? He felt like an intruder. If he had meant to infiltrate her class to cause a stir, this would have been awesome, but he did it unknowingly and he felt….guilty for it. There she was just staring at him and he couldn't come up with anything funny or chill to say. _"Is she mad?"_ Logan asked himself. _"Duh, of course she's mad…she probably spends 75% of her life mad…"_

"I-I I promise I didn't know-" he tried to begin, but she turned and darted off.  
"LOUISE!" Logan called. He contemplated running after her. He felt like he was supposed to, but then what? Have a fight in the middle of campus? Probably get slapped or punched again?  
Logan sighed and scratched the back of his head in frustration because he knew what was going to happen. _"Logan Bush, you must be some kinda stupid…"_ he thought and then jogged out after Louise.

Students were everywhere during the passing time and Louise was out of breath. She slowed to a quick walking pace and ducked off onto a side path where she rarely encountered anyone walking. She then stopped altogether, putting her hands on her knees to breathe. It felt good to run after being stuck in that room for so long. It felt good to have her blood pounding against the inside of her legs. It felt good to have her lungs ache with each breath. It felt good to escape.

Once her breath had slowed, Louise straightened up and ruffled through her bag for her phone to call Tina. Usually their paths crossed after their respective classes, but since she'd dashed out like a loon, a call would be the easiest way to locate her sister.

"2 messages, huh?" Louise said.

 _"Nope, I haven't been by the library. Got a secret coffee admirer?" Sender: Georgie Poo Poo_

 _"[Image attached] "Did you catch any bugs in that big trap of yours?" Sender: 201-321-6709_

Louise stared at the picture of herself in the library, asleep in the chair. Logan must have crouched down in front of her and pointed the camera up to take it. From that angle, it looked like she was just a big neck with a giant mouth and two cavernous nostrils waiting to be explored. The worst part was that he had taken it as a partial selfie. Below her own face and at the very bottom edge of the picture was the top part of his head. He had made a stupid face with one eye squinted and the other eye all big and bugged out.  
Louise's body started shaking with anger and impulsively, she hit the call button next to his contact info.

Logan was outside walking in the direction that Louise had run off to when he felt his phone vibrating. He pulled it out and to his surprise, saw that the object of his searching was calling him. With his coat draped over his arm, and phone up to his ear, he slowed his pace to a stroll.

"Hi there, fly trap," he started.  
"DELETE IT OR I'LL KILL YOU FOR REAL THIS TIME!" she shrieked into the phone. A student walking past her on the other side of the path was so startled that he let out a 'yelp' of surprise and dropped the sandwich he had in his hand.  
"Hey! Idiot! What the heck is wrong with you? That was my lunch! It's your fault I dropped it!" the young man angrily yelled at Louise.  
"Then get a better grip you BIG DUMBBUTT BUTTERFINGER BABY!" Louise yelled back. She was already in a bad mood, she didn't need some bozo making it worse.

The phone line was still open and Logan could hear the argument brewing.

"What did you say?!" the man started shouting nasty words at Louise. "You're gonna buy me a new sandwich, you stupid B!," spat the man now walking toward her. It was then that Louise actually gave some attention to him visually. He was rather large and as he got closer she realized he wreaked of alcohol.

Logan still had the phone to his ear and could discern the subtle drawl in the man's voice as he cursed at Louise.  
"Ah come on Louise, you gotta pick a fight with everyone, don'tcha…" he muttered. The casual stroll he had previously adopted quickened to a jog. Fights with drunks never ended well.

"Bit early to be trashed, don't ya think? Oh wait, maybe not for you, cuz' you're A FILTHY PIECE OF GARBAGE," Louise shouted. "YOU CRAWL OUTTA A DUMPSTER THIS MORNING? OR IS THAT WHERE YOU GOT YOUR STUPID SANDWICH?!"  
The man was large to begin with, but now, right in front of her, Louise felt a tremor run down her spine and she tightened her grip on her phone. He grabbed the strap of her bag, grabbing a fistful of her sweater in the process. His words seethed with drunken anger, "You're gonna buy me an effin' sandwich, you little whore…" he pulled her body toward him and stuck his face right up to hers. "Money. Now."

At a full run, Logan didn't need the phone to hear what was going on. He had heard Louise yelling at the man and had used her voice to lead him. As they came into clear view, he saw Louise almost dangling from the man's grasp.

"HEY!" Logan yelled. Both Louise and the man looked over at him in surprise.

"GREAT! JUST what I NEED!" Louise roared as she saw Logan, but he jogged right up to them, ignoring her completely.

"Hey man, what's up, Hi, I'm Logan. What's going on, man? You alright?" The change in the other guy's demeanor was immediate. He lowered Louise and Logan continued talking after stepping in between the two, forcing the man to let go completely.  
"Ah man, was that yours over there?" He gestured to the sandwich on the ground. When the man turned to look at it, Logan took a step backward, forcing Louise to do the same, and thus putting more distance between the two and the one.  
"That totally sucks. Here, how about a 20?" Logan reached into his wallet and pulled out the bill. "That'll get ya another sandwich and something else too, no problem. No foul, right man?" Logan was all sweets with this guy and Louise was baffled that it was actually working.  
"Uh…yeah sure…Thanks man…." he said, now diffused, and took the money and then turned to leave.

Louise tucked her phone in her pocket and stepped out and in front of Logan. With her arm up in defiance, she was about to yell something insulting at the retreating man when Logan, from behind her, cupped one hand over her mouth, and reached his other arm around her waist to physically restrain her. He then swiveled around and lifting her up, just enough, started to walk in the other direction. She was flailing against his body in protest.

When he was certain that her anger was turned on him again, rather than the big burly bully, and that she was safe from any harm, he let go. Once as a kid he had caught a snake while camping. It writhed and flipped in anger at being caught and he knew that as soon as he released it, it would lunge at him. This felt very similar.

Because of the snake, Logan was ready to dodge the first swing she took at him. Then the second. The third one he let land so he could grab her arm and pin her again.

"Knock it off!" he said firmly. "I know you had it all under control. I just have a superhero complex, okay? Gotta save the day and crap like that."  
"I don't need your help, BUSH."  
He let go. "I know you don't," he calmly replied. He took the lull in her verbal and physical attack to assess her state. She seemed seriously shook up from the altercation and perhaps from the events of the day…

"I'm sorry, Louise." She opened her mouth to speak but Logan cut her off, "No. Let me finish. I'm sorry I was in your class. I didn't even think about that being a possibility when I saw you Saturday, or yesterday. I mean, what are the chances, right? And the coffee and the picture, that was just me havin' fun. I'll delete the pic right now. And that guy? I know that kind of guy way too well. I guess I was just worried he'd do something dumb…..to..you." It surprised him how the last two words hitched in his throat when he tried to say them. He meant for it to be smooth and nonchalant, but it definitely wasn't.

Louise's shoulders slumped. Her body still trembled. Her façade crumbled, and to Logan and Louise's dismay, she started crying.

"Are you….?!" Logan was stunned. He'd only seen Louise cry once and it was because of his bullying back in high school. He remembered the taste of revenge on his tongue as he'd chased her and her brother through the wharf, finally trapping them, ready to give her the stankiest armpit takedown of her life, when she had teared up. Then of course he ended up giving it to Gene, which was just as fun, though slightly less satisfying.

She turned away from him as she started to sob, unable to neither answer him, nor hide it from him. The weekend had been too much - then sitting through class with him there, and being humiliated by the picture, and finally feeling so weak and helpless when all she wanted to do was be strong and always in control – it all came crashing down on her. The chilly air cooled her hot tears and made her face cold. Then she felt the weight of a coat on her shoulders, and Logan's body brush against hers as he stepped around to face her, and strong arms pulling her against his body, and a gentle hand on her head, holding her to him.

After a few minutes Louise calmed her sobs and took a step out of Logan's embrace. She rubbed her sweater sleeves all over her face to wipe away tears and other, gooier liquids.  
"Grooooossss," Logan gently teased with a chuckle.  
Louise let out a small chuckle as well.  
"Oh please, Logan Booger Bush, the master of all things disgusting, grossed out by some snot? I doubt it," she said with a small smile.  
"Uh yeah, if it's got Louise germs, then I totally am." Logan took his coat since Louise had removed it and was handing it to him.  
They stood there silently for a few minutes, neither one knowing what to say or how.

"Umm, maybe wanna grab some grub?" Logan asked tentatively, breaking the silence.  
"Shoot!" Louise hissed. "TINA!"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"I just assumed you were staying after class to get help on homework," Tina offered over the phone. "But Louise, are you alright? Your voice sounds suspiciously like you've gotten into some kind of trouble…"  
"Wh-hat? A HA HA….no, everything's perfect!… And when have I EVER stayed after class voluntarily? Tina, come on," Louise replied.  
"Well then what happened?" Tina asked.  
"Yeah I got into some kind of trouble, okay?!" Louise said, her face flushing. Logan was casually leaning against a cement partition amused with the conversation so far. Louise had called her sister to apologize but instead verbally attacked her sister for not trying to call her first. It was all very ridiculous, and entertaining.  
"Hey hey!" he whisper-yelled to Louise. "Tell her who rescued you! Come on come on!"  
"Shut up, Bush," Louise hissed at him.  
"Louise, did you just tell a bush to shut up? That's not very nice…unless the bush was being mean…in which case, put the phone up to it and cover your ears. It's going to get ugly," Tina said over the phone.  
"Uuuugggh, Tiiiina. Just, are you still eating or what?" Louise asked.  
"Yes. No. Well, I could eat another plate of spaghetti if I had to, but I'd probably need help toward the end of it…" Louise imagined Tina eyeing an empty plate.  
"Alright, nevermind T. You leave that pretty, precious stomach of yours alone. I'll catch ya' Wednesday." Louise ended the phone call and turned to Logan. "You owe me lunch."  
"What?" Logan asked incredulously.  
"If you weren't the H. 's tall, funny looking mascot, then you wouldn't have been in my class, meaning I wouldn't have run out, and I wouldn't have missed lunch. How are you not seeing that your life choices are destroying me one meal at a time?" Louise said with a "duh" look on her face.  
"Ms. Belcher," Logan said slowly with a mischievous grin, "I have a feeling that I could ask any of those students where I work and 90% would get it wrong. You, however, miss 'Look at me all moody with my beanie all the way down to my shoulders, not paying attention to anything blah blah' just rattled it off like it was your own, personal mantra. Watch your words, or I'm gonna' start thinking you think something of me." Logan adopted a high pitched, taunting voice halfway through his response and ended with that sugar-coated tone of his that made Louise's face flush.  
"I still have time to kill you before you leave, Bush," she threatened.  
"Well at least wait til after lunch, then I can die a full man. Lead me to the cafeteria, little, lesser human!" Logan cheered.  
Louise glared at him but as he walked off in front of her (not knowing where he was going), she couldn't help but let out a short huff of a laugh through her nose and smile as she walked off after him.

_

The cafeteria buzzed with hungry students all trying to stuff their faces before the next class. Louise had started to hand her card to the cafeteria worker, when Logan snatched it and paid for both of them. Louise then watched with wonder as Logan piled entrée after entrée on his plate. They chose a spot to sit and he immediately went back up to get another plate of sides as well as his dessert plate. Louise was all admiration. Once he sat back down, she put a tender hand on his arm which startled and confused Logan. He turned to see a look of concern on her face which made his heart 'th-thump'.  
"Oh my gosh. I understand now. You don't have a job at all do you? It's all fake. The business card, which let's be honest, looks like a 5 year old was practicing his alphabet, and being here on a Monday instead of at a job…Poor Logie Bear, when was the last time you had a decent meal?" She said with sarcastic concern in her voice.  
Logan responded by giving her a glare and shoving a handful of fries in his mouth which made Louise laugh.

They spent lunch by watching other students and making up conversations based on their body language and lip reading. One girl who was actually having her friends smell her hair, they pretended had just farted and her friends were sniffing it up. A group of guys that were clearly talking about their calf muscles, they pretended were discussing their last wax job, and when they needed to go again and if anyone had a groupon. One of Logan's comments was so funny that Louise shot soda out through her nose from laughing so hard which of course earned Logan a side punch under the table.

"Aaagh it's like I stuck an alka seltzer up my nose!" Louise complained, still blowing her nose. Logan laughed beside her. His side hurt not only from her jab but also from laughing so much throughout lunch.

"So do you always do this?" Logan asked.  
"Snort carbonation? Yeah, gives me the perfect buzz," Louise said, sounding like she was high.  
"Ha, no, the voices for the people and making up stuff. It's fun," Logan clarified.  
"With Georgia yeah, pretty often. It's something I'd always do with my dad watching TV."  
"Yeah, how is your dad? And the restaurant? Man, those burgers were outta this world."  
"Eh they're fine. Still kickin'," Louise said with a shrug.  
"I'd love to have another one of those burgs," Logan said with a daydream in his eyes.  
"How can you possibly even think about more food? Even my parent's garbage disposal couldn't pack it down like you just did. And nothin's stoppin' you from going back for a visit."  
"Yeeeeah, I prefer to avoid any potential interaction with the mother unit, if ya' catch me."  
"Ah yes. CssssSYNnnnthia," Louise hissed out her name. Louise looked up at the clock and realized that they had been there over an hour.  
"Well, Le' bush, it's been grand, truly, but ma butt might get stuck if I sit here any longer," Louise said as she made a big spectacle of peeling herself off of the seat. They cleaned up their plates and headed back out of the cafeteria.

Logan and Louise walked for a ways without saying anything. Louise was involuntarily replaying the things he had said earlier in her class. She wondered when and how he had gotten into books. Logan was thinking about how Louise had looked so fragile up against the drunk. He was also bothered by how instigative she had been, as if she had no concept of self-preservation. He was about to say something when she skipped around in front of him and started walking backward so they were facing each other.

"So you like books. Lots of people like books. Heck, _I_ even like'em. But enough to deal with them everyday…as my job? No way," Louise said.  
Logan looked at Louise and shrugged while still walking. "Books are easy. You just read'em. There's no drama except for what's in the story itself. I dunno'. Guess it started in High School? I got so tired of my parents that I'd put on headphones, the noise cancelling ones, you know? and read comic books, or scifi, some thriller stuff. It helped me escape," Logan casually said.  
"Wow," Louise started with sarcastic intrigue, "You almost sound deep….like there's a brain protected under all that hair product." She stopped walking and stood on her tiptoes, reaching up to touch his hair, pretending to be looking for a brain. "It's gotta be in there somewhere. But I just can't believe it!..."

An idea sparked in Logan's mind and without thinking it completely through, he grabbed the hand Louise was waving around his face and started walking toward the library with her in tow.  
"Come on, I wanna show you something!" Louise heard him say with genuine excitement and found that she was interested in what he wanted her to see.

Halfway to the library Louise pulled her arm from Logan.  
"Geez, Logan Long Legs over here! These delightful little appendages of mine can't keep up! Slow your roll," she said as Logan adjusted his pace.  
"Ha sorry. Just super excited." He took his now free hand and ran his fingers through his hair on the back of his head, near the nape of his neck.  
"What's got your panties all up in a twist anyway?" Louise asked with her eyebrow raised.  
"Who are you to talk about my panties?" he asked, pretending to be offended. Then he looked at her with hooded eyes and his voice lowered, "Who says I'm _even wearing_ any panties?"  
"GROSS! Yet inspiring! What freedom, what liberty! That's what this great country is all about!" she declared and Logan smiled, shaking his head.  
"So weird," he said. "You like James Harvey books, well there is this comic series that has a similar jive to it, and I want you to read some."  
"Well good luck finding it at this library. The selection is shall we say, sub-SUB-par."  
"Nah, they have it. Already checked," Logan said with a grin as he picked his pace back up.

_

A couple of pages in and Louise was hooked. Logan came back after going to get coffee and handed Louise her mocha. She took a sip with an 'mmmm'.  
"Take a mental note, I don't want you to EVER sneak attack me with coffee again, but, if you do, make sure it's with this." She pointed to the hot beverage in her hand.  
"Mental note taken aaand, save! Done. What's the verdict on the literature?" Logan asked.  
"You surprise me, Bushman. This is absolutely titillating!"  
"Not a good enough reason to use the word, 'titillating'…" Logan said dryly.  
"What? You don't like it? Or should I say, you don't like _tit_? But it's titillatingly titular!"  
"Oh my gosh…" Logan said putting his forehead in his palm. Louise continued to say varying forms of 'titillating', some made up, and some barely resembling the word, until Logan started blushing. He got up with his coffee in his hand and walked off. Louise cackled and, grabbing the comic and her coffee, got up to follow him. They stopped at the front desk so she could check it out.

Stepping outside into the afternoon air, Louise noticed that it had shaded off. Logan must have noticed too, because he grimaced as he opened his coat to put it on.  
"This wreaks, Louise." He took a whiff of the collar. It still smelled like spray paint.  
"Yeah, I noticed it earlier. You should really get that cleaned," she replied casually.  
"Me? I think you mean, _you_. You're the one who got it all smelly," he retorted.  
"Hey, I didn't ask for it. You put it on me. That's your problem," Louise replied. She felt a slight heat forming in her core. She hated being blamed for things and refused to feel guilty for something that wasn't her fault.  
"You're the crazy one who sat in the cold with just a hoodie! What was I supposed to do, just let you freeze?" Logan went on the defense and his voice was getting louder.  
"Let me freeze? It was your fault I was there IN THE FIRST PLACE!"  
"ME?! Just because _I_ made up a story to your friend _you_ go coo coo crazy and pretend to shoot me! I almost soiled myself, do you know that?! First I thought I was dead, then I thought I'd pooped my pants, do you know how traumatizing both of those are? I'm a GROWN MAN who almost SHAT HIS PANTS!" Logan was yelling down at Louise's stubborn expression, but when he finished, he saw her expression cracking. She was about to laugh, but he was mad.  
"Did you seriously almost bust out a nug nug in your pants?" Her eyes shone with entertainment.

Logan's temper flared. He was tired of going round after round with her and with never knowing when the next argument would pop up. He was tired of being embarrassed for her amusement. At first it was fun and interesting, now it reminded him of always being on guard with his mother and always anticipating some sort of scolding or verbal abuse. He was also tired of the drama that came with Louise…he had too many other things to spend his energy on.

"You know what, Louise? I got better things to do than waste my time with you."

Louise was stunned. Not by his words – they were mild compared to a lot of things she'd had directed at her. No, it was how he said it, there was no…joking, in his tone…no humor in his body language. As he turned away from her, he didn't wave or nod or turn back with a playful wink...there was nothing. No emotion almost. It bothered her. She wasn't sure why it bothered her because she'd never been one to really care about people's feelings _unless_ those people belonged to her. Her family, a few high school friends, Georgia. But Logan? She had no claim on him, and apparently he was done with her completely. And it _really_ bothered her.

"HEY!" she yelled after him. "I'm not done!" and she jogged after him.  
"Hey, I said!" Louise was slightly panting. Her hot breath made little cloudlets in the air.  
"Go away."  
"Heeey, stop. Oh my gooosh stop…" she panted. _"I am so out of shape,"_ she thought. "Look, Logan _Poo Poo_ Bear…sorry, too soon?"  
Logan glared at her and kept walking, tossing his now empty coffee cup in a trashcan to his right.  
Louise reached out and grabbed his arm.  
"Logan, please stop." He looked over at her, trying to hide his surprise at the sudden use of manners.

"Thank you for letting me wear your coat. For…hanging out with me, even though I am probably _the coolest_ person you know, but it's been nice seeing someone from home. Thanks for the CDs and my book. Of course, those _were_ because you were checking me out. Nuance. Let's just leave on good terms, yeah? Come on ol' pal, ol' archenemy. What say ye?" and she nudged Logan with her elbow before standing there, looking up at him, waiting for a reply.

Logan berated himself for how easily he softened to her, but he didn't really want to part ways mad. He did, however, want to teach her that Logan Bush was not someone to mess with.

"Archenemies…leaving on good terms? Oh no, Louise Belcher. You've pushed me to the point of break." He put his hand on her beanie, as if he was going to take her hat and reenact the worst day of Louise's childhood, but he had more sinister plans. He slid his hand down the back of her head to the nape of her neck, and in one swift movement, brought his lips down to press into hers. He pulled away just enough to look at her face and was in pure ecstasy at seeing Louise frozen, completely stunned, speechless. Then he leaned back in and whispered into her ear.

"See ya later, Four Ears."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

If Louise had gone to the doctor, she would have been diagnosed as suffering from shock. All the symptoms were there – slight dizziness, clammy skin, rapid pulse and breathing, enlarged pupils, anxiousness, etc. She wasn't sure how long she'd been standing there. She wasn't sure when Logan actually walked away. She didn't know why she wasn't screaming at him. Or why she didn't hit him as soon as he did it. Did he even actually do it? It was as if Logan had rocketed her onto an island of confusion and then rocketed back, leaving her there stranded alone with a hurricane of thoughts and questions brewing at the shore with no way back to concrete, safe reality. It was unclear to her how long she would have continued in that manner if it hadn't been for Max.

"Louise? Looouiiiiise…..earth to space cadet….Hello?," Max said while waving his hand in front of Louise's face. He was leaving his class and happened to pass his motionless friend.  
"What's with you?" he asked and then put a hand on her shoulder.  
 ** _*click*_**  
As if that contact with another human was a rescue boat that pulled her off of that troubled island, Louise came back to reality and her emotions came crashing back with her.  
"WHAT. JUST. FREAKIN'. HAPPENED?!" she yelled and chucked her coffee cup onto the pavement.

Max backstepped in surprise and put his hands up in defense.  
"Woah, I just touched your shoulder because you weren't answering!" he defended, thinking that her tantrum was in response to his actions. He watched nervously as Louise morphed into a feral animal of some kind - her breaths heavy and forced through her flared nostrils, her eyes sharp and frantic, her body tense, ready to charge, ready to kill…  
Louise looked at Max like she had just realized he was there. She took a step forward and Max backed up in response.  
"Max. There was a guy here. WHERE DID HE GO?!" she said hurriedly. The words were frantic and panicked, she needed to know, and now.  
"It was just you…" Max replied somewhat hesitantly. "And actually, probably for awhile. I walked all the way here from the Science building and didn't see anyone…."

Louise pulled her phone out and ignored Max's further questions as she walked away in blind rage.  
 _"*riiing….riiing…riiing….riiing….riiing*…You have reached the voicema- "  
_ "GAAAAAAHH!" she roared as she hung up the phone call. "You're dead meat. DEAD MEAT! I'm gonna grind you up into a million pathetic vile pieces and then bake you into a loganberry pie, you pitiful excuse for a-"

 _*bzzzzzzz bzz bzz bzzzzzz*_ Louise looked at her phone and found a text message.  
 _"What's up, Louise? Hungry for more?" Sender: 201-321-6709_

"

Ooohh ho ho…You cocky piece of-"

 _*bzzzzzzz bzz bzz bzzzzzz*  
"Sorry Sweetie Lou, but things got switched up so I'm leaving town in a few hours. Guess that'll have to be your goodbye kiss. [kiss emoji] [winkie face]" Sender: 201-321-6709_

Every hateful word Louise knew or had ever heard slipped from her lips like acid. She tried calling his number again but he didn't pick up.

 _"THE ONLY PLACE YOU'RE GOING IN A FEW HOURS IS TO YOUR GRAVE!"_ she texted on her phone. She waited, pacing back and forth.  
 _"YOU HEAR ME?"_ she sent again.  
Louise sent text after text full of threats and curse words, but got nothing in return. Logan knew just what to do to drive her crazy which made her hate him even more. She loathed him. Every part of him. From the topmost pompous pointy hair to his stupid shiny shoes, Logan became the embodiment of her anger, disgust, frustration. She concluded that he had been playing her the past few days with the sole intent to ruin her. He had been fake – purposefully buttering her up to get her defenses down. Once a bully, always a bully, she thought, and she had been his happenstance target. But not anymore she resolved. Logan Bush would taste her wrath….no, not just taste it….she was going to make him _choke_ on it.

Louise realized she was smirking – a devilish grin that outwardly portrayed the menacing glee she was experiencing inside. It felt like the blood boiling through her veins had been asleep for decades, and that her body had finally come awake. The years had mellowed her, but now, it was as if all those moments of subdued deviousness and mischief had been reserved and ordained for this very occasion. She was going to take that menace down and rid herself of her childhood nemesis, once and for all. All that was left was to figure out how. For that, she needed Georgia.

Louise stormed toward her dorm room. People she passed instinctively felt the presence of danger and cleared out of her way. She felt powerful again. She felt like Louise Belcher again.

Georgia was aware of her name being called somewhere nearby. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and sat up straight in her desk chair to listen more intently. _"Louise?"_ she thought. It was getting closer. She got up from her chair and crossed the room to open the door. When she peered out into the hallway she saw Louise marching toward their room. Her eyebrows went up in alarm.  
"Louise? What's wrong?" she asked, suspicious.  
Louise didn't reply until she was inside the room and the door clicked shut. Then she let out a rant that Georgia had to quickstep to keep up with.

"I need to destroy him! Think of the most devastating thing that I could do to him. Get him fired? Steal something! I could trash his car…SMEAR CAMPAIGN!? GRRRAAAH It has to be perfect! Burn down his book place or steal his identity!… I could break into his house and find his information but I'd need you to either be the distraction or be on look out. We can go this weekend when he's not expecting it. Perfect! Yessss… I'll pick his locks and OH HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND! I could get to _her,_ and get _her_ to _break up_ with _him_! Bet she's as nasty as him, little tramp!"

Louise probably would have continued, but once Georgia got the gist of what was going on, she got Louise a bottle of cold water from their microfridge. She opened it and handed it to her. While Louise took a drink, Georgia had a chance to speak.

"Let me get this straight, you're after Logan again?" Louise nodded while still gulping down water. Georgia shook her head. "What happened this time?" she sighed.

 _*Gulp*_ Louise put the water down and then pointed to her lips. _  
_  
Georgia inspected Louise's face, looking for something like a sharpie marker doodle or maybe a hint of a prank gone wrong, but saw nothing.  
"Help me out here…"  
"On. The. Lips." and Louise pressed her finger right up against her pursed lips. Georgia's eyes stretched open as far as they could as understanding dawned on her. She opened her mouth to verify what Louise was saying, but Louise interrupted.  
"Don't say it! Don't say that detestable word!" Louise interjected and Georgia snapped her mouth shut. "He went too far. TOO FAR!"

As Louise continued her vengeful rant, Georgia surveyed her roommate. She perceived a gleam in Louise's eye she hadn't seen before and the animation in her movements wasn't because of anxiety or anger…Louise was in heaven. She was plotting and conspiring. Much to Georgia's amusement, she watched as her scheming friend went through plots great and small – all ending with Logan in some sort of misery. Louise was having a delusional blast. Georgia liked Logan though. He had kept Louise guessing and had bested her and though Louise would rather die than admit it, she respected him because of that. That fact alone made Georgia like him because she had never seen Louise respect….anyone. And now he had done something no sane guy would even dream of doing, and the effect on Louise was delightful.

The reason that Louise knew she needed to come to Georgia for help was because in the course of their freshman year together, Georgia had proved herself more sly than Louise in many ways. She had the advantage of appearing friendly and innocent, so no one suspected her, giving her way more opportunities than Louise had naturally. This advantage would turn out to be Louise's disadvantage in this situation, however, because Georgia had a sneaky plan brewing in her majestically, manipulative mind.

"Hey Louise?" she asked, breaking Louise from her tirade. "You said he had a girlfriend, right? Do you know for sure?"  
"Uh…he said so in class," she replied. "Whyyyyy?" Louise said while wringing her hands in delight.  
"Got a plan. Let me see your phone."

Louise handed over her phone and peered at the screen as Georgia read Louise's previous messages to Logan and then started typing.  
 _"You know what makes me the sickest?! That you're not only a **** but a CHEATING ****! How would your GIRLFRIEND react if she knew you've spent the past weekend with another girl and then kissed her!? I would hate for her to find out….."_ Georgia hit **_[send]._** Now she just needed Logan to take the bait.

"Georgia, fill me in. That's not much of a threat…" Louise asked in disappointment.  
"Lou, my dear, what was one of the saddest moments of your life?"  
"When the cafeteria ran out of bacon."  
"Oh good grief," Georgia chuckled.  
"Anytime Gene would sing and my mom would join in?"  
"Honestly!"

Louise thought for a few moments and then her facial expression saddened as she remembered her first breakup.  
"Rudy…"  
"Exactly. We have to find out if this is a serious relationship or not. Frankly, I'll be surprised if there is actually a girlfriend at all. He doesn't act like a tethered man. But if so, that would do it," Georgia explained, hiding her ulterior motive.  
"Oh ho ho Ge-or-gi-oh! What a GORGEOUS brain you have!" Louise said and put her hands on either side of Georgia's face.  
"You're crazy," Georgia laughed. She saw a message from Logan pop up on Louise's phone.

 _"You mean the girlfriend I make up to dissuade students from hitting on me? She doesn't mind – she's cool like that."_ _Sender: 201-321-6709_

"Knew it!" Georgia exclaimed. She saved Logan's phone number into Louise's phone.

Louise was slumped in disappointment, "Ugh, of course he doesn't have a girlfriend! Well plan A just took a dive into the deep end of a toilet!"  
"No. This is perfect. Now listen. Louise, how badly do you want to destroy this guy? I mean, I'm talking total obliteration and complete control? Devastation of the acutest kind…"  
"Well when you put it like that, A THOUSAND times more than I already wanted to!" Louise eagerly said.  
"Good." Georgia started texting again. Louise looked on with interest.

 _"Really? Oh. Guess I'm kind of surprised…"_ Georgia hit the send button before Louise could stop her. _  
_"Georgia, you're terrible at this. It just sounds like I think girls would actually like him!"  
Georgia eyed Louise. "How bad do you want this?" she reminded Louise. Louise crossed her arms and "hrmph'd". Logan took a little longer to reply than the previous time.

 _"I'm waiting…" Sender: Mission - Breakup  
"For what?"  
"The follow up, the insult, the verbal jab meant to cut me to shreds." Sender: Mission - Breakup  
"What a masochist. Haven't I insulted you enough? You want more of this?"  
"Oh I got plenty earlier today, thanks. [kiss emoji]" Sender: Mission - Breakup_  
 _"Well maybe I didn't."_

Louise grabbed her phone from Georgia. "What the HELL do you think you are doing?!" Georgia just held out her hand calmly.  
"Calm down and give me back your phone."  
"Tell me what you're doing first."  
Georgia sighed. She knew it would be tricky to convince Louise of her plan but it had to work.  
"Louise, you were…a mess when Rudy broke up with you. I was a mess when Jack and I broke it off last year. There is nothing quite like a breakup."  
"I know, but he doesn't have a girlfriend to breakup with hi-….." Louise stopped short. "No. No no no no no NONONO no! AbsoLUTely not! There's NO WAY. You're outta your mind if you think that _I_ am going to do _that_!"  
"Louise, it would be perfect! Don't you see? He's got some weird little 'Louise soft spot' in there, I know it! This could be you at your finest! The ultimate web of lies and manipulation. You could have him dancing in your palm and just when he gets comfortable, smash him! It's long distance too, so you might not even have to see him often. Ugh it's so brilliant; why can't you see that?!" Georgia pleaded.

"NO! You know what? It's finally happened, you are officially off your FRIGGIN rocker, Georgia!" Louise jolted when her phone vibrated in her hand.

 _"…you serious?" Sender: Mission Breakup_

As soon as Louise looked down at her phone to check the message, Georgia lunged out, snatched it out of her hands, and ran into the bathroom, locking the door. Her heart beat quickly knowing she only had a few minutes to get this to work before Louise picked the lock.

Georgia replied to Logan. Meanwhile, Louise was screaming at Georgia and she could hear the sounds of drawers opening and slamming shut as Louise searched for something to pick the lock with. Georgia managed to correspond with Logan two more times before she heard the metal clanging in the lock. Then she had to cover her tracks.

 ** _Delete Conversation? - [OK]_** Georgia tapped through a few more options. ** _  
Delete Contact? - [OK]_**

In the last few seconds before the door opened, Georgia stashed the phone inbetween two towels on the rack to buy her some time.  
"Gotta find it!" she teased Louise and then casually walked past her into the room, closing Louise in the bathroom. She then dashed to where Louise had tossed the bag from the CD store.

 _"Yes!"_ she thought. She took out the business card and slipped it into her back pocket, then quickly sat down at her own desk, steadying her nerves. She had to be convincing during this next part to get Louise to believe her.

"GEORGIA!" Louise yelled as she came out of the bathroom. "Where're his texts? What did you say?!"

"I got you!" Georgia yelled at Louise after jumping up from her chair. "HA! Did you think I was _actually_ going to try and set you guys up? You think I'm stupid or something? I said, _'Wait, did you think I was serious? Like I would ever be interested in scum like you!'_ Then I told him, _'Don't ever contact me again you disgusting excuse for a man!'_ and then deleted his number from your phone so you couldn't contact him either. Honestly, Louise, he drives you nuts, and I don't want you doing anything crazy, so it's done. I handled it." Then she sat back down and turned away from Louise.  
She could feel her friend's stare drilling a hole into the back of her skull.

"And anyway, Louise, now you don't have to deal with him. You should be happy about that. You get to have the last word and you should leave it like that because if you keep this up, he _is_ going to think you like him….and _I_ might think that too." She turned and shot a warning look at her friend. Georgia knew how to put Louise on the defensive and that's exactly what happened. Louise started making excuse after excuse for her actions toward Logan and continuously saying things to assure Georgia that she had no interest in him, whatsoever. Georgia just sat there grinning inwardly at how her plan had been set in motion.

Logan smirked as he sent his reply.

 _"Well maybe I didn't." Sender: Spawn of Satan_

"Wait what?" Logan said out loud to his empty hotel room. He stared at the message he had just received from Louise. _"So does she….like me?...Nooo way…really? She must just be messin' with me."_ Logan typed out a reply that implied he was grossed out by the idea of kissing her again, but couldn't send it. The truth was…and he couldn't believe he was admitting it to himself, he would do it again if given the opportunity. When he had walked away after kissing her, he had needed every ounce of mental energy to keep his legs working properly. His brain had hazed over and twice he almost walked right into a lamp pole. He had finally gotten to his car and leaned against it to catch his breath and let his heart slow down. The drive back to the hotel was foggy – the kiss was on loop in his mind. Then when she finally messaged him all of those crude insults, he had simply laughed at each one, entertained by how vulgar she could be and by how affected she was by him. But then the texting tone had shifted and suddenly she was implying that maybe…..maybe. He rationalized that if he showed any interest, and there wasn't something there, then she'd ridicule him, he'd leave, and that would be it. But if, on the other hand, there _was_ something….

" _…you serious?"_

Logan waited anxiously for either an affirmation or a virtual slap in the face.

"Maybe you should find out." Sender: Spawn of Satan

"No way…" he whispered. Logan knew it could still very well be a trap for some plot of hers, but he wanted to know. _  
"Name the time and place."_

"I will, but don't contact me until then. No matter what. GOT IT?" Sender: Spawn of Satan

Logan laughed in disbelief. _  
"Understood, bossman."_

 **Author's Note  
I apologize for this taking so long to get out. I needed to take a few days to see where the characters were going and how to get them where I want them (which can sometimes be a tricky way to write). Thanks for your patience and for everyone reviewing! **


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Logan was unsure of what to do. He'd already changed a meeting around for the following day, so he needed to get back to the city. He did still have the hotel room for that night, but he would have to leave really early the next morning if he stayed. He wanted to message Louise, but that meant going against her 'orders' and she wasn't one for disobedience he suspected. Logan changed into a pair of gym shorts and a sleeveless tee, put on some socks and sneakers, and went down to use the hotel's fitness room. He grabbed his mp3 player and a couple of bucks for a vending machine water. He smiled when he saw he had the room to himself. He picked a treadmill with plenty of settings, and started a jogging program. As the machine whirred to life, Logan matched pace with the belt until it was at a comfortable jog.

With the music in his ears as a background track, Logan's mind raced off faster than his legs. He wanted to figure out what he wanted to get out of this whole situation. He wanted to figure out what exactly Louise was to him _. "She's a pain…that's what,"_ he thought, but that didn't sum it up. The weekend had been _fun_ for him and the whole reason why, was Louise. She was more than entertaining. At times she was downright hysterical, but then at any point she could be such a chore to deal with. It was as if Louise lived in one of two extremes at any given time – either she was being a complete pain in the arse, or she was making him laugh his pants off. She was loud and obnoxious, but so honest in a way. She didn't let social faux pas dictate her behavior and that was refreshing to him. Logan increased the speed on the treadmill.

 _"So what, man. You wanna be friends? You wanna just pal around? What do you think is coming out of this?"_ he mentally asked himself. _"She's probably playing you anyway! She's gonna show up with some toy bazooka this time or something and shoot confetti or some crap all over. Maybe she'll have a better sound effect this time…"_ The thought of Louise holding a toy, confetti firing bazooka made him smile. He still had the toy gun; it was stashed in his suitcase under his clothes. He could have thrown it away, but she'd done a really good job with the paint. _"What if she is interested, then what? She's cool sometimes but come on…It's Louise Belcher…"_ he continued. _"What would that even be like?"_ Logan began imagining what it would be like to date Louise, and without any difficulty. Before he knew it, he had come up with a list of date options and gifts he'd buy for her. He guessed what kind of weird public displays of affection would be in her repertoire and he shook his head at the fact that he'd probably get slapped a lot. He thought about the playful banter and insults and how unfortunately easy it'd be to cross that silent line of fun versus hurt.  
Logan increased the speed on the treadmill again.

At a full run now, Logan had to breathe through his mouth. He skipped the current song on his playlist in preference for a faster tempo. _"Would I want to hang out with Louise?..."_ his thoughts paused….then he chuckled, _"Maaan, you already have. CD store, books, dinner and lunch, library…"_ Logan was getting concerned. This was Louise, _the_ Louise Belcher - the gang wrangling, butt bustin', slap-happy, hurt-thirsty, Four Ear monstrosity in a pink hat and a green dress.  
 _"Wonder what happened to her ears…"_ Logan got distracted from his original train of thought. _"I wonder if I could find another hat for her. I'm sure I could. Just search online probably. She'd probably love another book too. Think she likes those books more than I do…"_ That was something that impressed him. He'd gone out with a few girls who'd claimed an affinity for books, but whenever he'd bring up a new title, or specifically the James Harvey books, they'd give a Sparknote quality answer, and the relationship would inevitably end soon after. _"That'd be nice…to actually talk about them, and I bet she'd love it once the new one is fi-"_

The door creaked and swooshed against the carpet, then clicked and made an electronic latching sound as another person entered the fitness room. Logan glanced and saw a young woman with brightly colored workout clothes on, a high, blonde ponytail, and apparent make up on her face. She looked over at Logan and confidently walked up to the treadmill right next to his. She mouthed some words but Logan's music was too loud. He took out one earbud.

"Hi! I'm Elaine. Can I use this one?"  
"Sure, whatever toots your flute," he responded while simultaneously hitting the [STOP] button, slowing his pace with the machine, and then leaving the miffed lady to have her choice of _any_ machine in the room.

Logan walked back to his room with his earbuds still in. A song came on from the CD he'd given Louise. _"Ah come on,"_ he said rolling his eyes and skipping to the next one.

 _"I can't get you, get you out of my head. You're like a drug spreading through my veins, rotting out my brain."_  
"Seriously?" he said. He turned off his mp3 player. Once in his room, he took his phone off of the dresser and saw he had a missed call. He felt his heart playing hop-scotch in his chest.  
"Get it together, man!" he snapped at himself. Opening it, he saw that the call was _not_ from a certain boisterous brunette. He listened to the voicemail that let him know his meeting in the morning with his correspondent would unfortunately have to be cancelled due to extenuating circumstances. The representative apologized multiple times in the message but Logan only saw opportunity. That meant he didn't have to go back until Wednesday, or Thursday even, if he wanted to. He called down to the front desk.

"Yes, hi….do you have this room available for two more nights?"

_

Afternoon naps were a luxury Louise often indulged in, but today she opted for a walk. She needed to get out of her room and away from the mastermind that had stolen away her chances at getting revenge. Louise had discovered Logan's business card missing and was met with an all-knowing and challenging glare from Georgia when she asked her about it. Grumbling, she'd excused herself to the outdoors. Before the door shut, Georgia simply said, "Coat and scarf." Louise shot a dirty look at her, but grabbed both before heading out.

The pink scarf had been a gift from her mom when Louise had stopped wearing her hat.

 _"Oh just look at ma' little girl! So pretty in that colooor! All grown up without her ears... *tsk* Now I know you can't wear it in the summer, but I can't have my little baby getting' cold, no sir!"  
_ _

Louise smiled and shrugged her shoulders so her chin and mouth buried into the scarf. She stuffed her hands into her coat pockets and decided to walk the perimeter of the campus. Looking toward the classroom buildings, she watched all the poor saps who had late afternoon classes.  
"SUCKS TO BE YOU!" she yelled at no one in particular. Yelling was nice. She wanted to yell at Georgia, but she knew better than to provoke her in this type of situation. It was like Georgia had been a mother in a previous life and had spent years mastering her technique. It was a look, and the tone of her voice, plus her whole demeanor changed and it was intimidating – even to someone like Louise. She'd been on the receiving end enough times to know how it played out too. The more silent and well-behaved Louise was, the sooner Georgie Coo Coo, went back to Georgie _Poo Poo_.

In the meantime, however, she'd have to keep a safe distance and play out her revenge on her own. Louise still had Logan's email afterall, and she assumed Georgia either didn't know about it or had forgotten about it.  
Louise continued walking aimlessly, talking to herself about the situation.  
"Tch! Me, date Logan, even for pretend? I'd rather eat twice vomited dog puke before giving that terror any of _my_ time. How could she even think that?! She's been watching too many rom coms. I'll see him writhing in agony without having to give up my dignity! I mean, without dignity, what does a person even have left?! The shoes on their feet and clothes on their back?...And she thinks he has a 'little Louise soft spot'….YE-HEAH RIGHT! Whatever spot that is, it wants to see me humiliated! RRRAaAHH! My poor lips, my poor VIOLATED LIPS…" Louise touched her fingers to her mouth and thought about how unwelcome that firm pressure had been and how surprised she was when his face was a mere inch from hers. His hot breath had tickled against the tiny hairs on her face and the one inhale she'd managed before her lungs forgot how to work, had been tainted by the smell of vanilla. He'd tasted like coffee.

Louise unwrapped her scarf because her neck was suddenly hot and sweaty. Her coat too, felt like it was suffocating her, so she unzipped it halfway and felt immediate relief when fresh, cooling air infiltrated all the tiny spaces between the knits of her sweater.  
"I am _too young_ for hot flashes!...And I'm pitting…greeeeat." She fluffed the top of her sweater to let the air circulate _._ She felt it cool the sweat in the small of her back and under her arms. _"I must be boiling because of Logan….hate him! Hate him hate him haaate him! Why'd he have to NOT have a girlfriend. It's so inconvenient for me! Couldn't he be like any other pretty boy with lines of bimbos waiting for a chance at him? What am I gonna' do now!?"_

She was clear of the academic buildings when Louise decided to walk in the direction of Tina's apartment. If she didn't have a Georgia to talk to, she needed a Tina. It was only a few minutes away too. _"Tina knows boys, well kind of, she might have a better idea than Georgia…maybe, she's not sneaky or brilliantly maniacal like Georgia, but she'll have to do, I guess…"_ Every possible idea Louise came up with left her dissatisfied – none were good enough to avenge what he had dared to do. He'd taken something from her – and it wasn't just a hat this time. The thing is, she'd never actually _been kissed_ … _she_ had always initiated. She had kissed Rudy in school, and then when they dated, it was an established ground rule that he didn't kiss her unless she started it. When they broke up she swore off the inferior sex and had kept her lips abstinent, up until now.

As she rounded the corner and saw the front door of her sister's apartment, she noticed a man walking out from the apartment next to it. She walked up the shared sidewalk between the two apartments and looked at the guy.

"Well. Lookie lookie. It's the 'Bookie Plookie'. Pssst! P.S. 'Plook' is Scottish slang for pimple. That's what you are to me. Ooone big giiiiant zit that's need to just be popped!" Louise called to him. At 'popped' she punched her fist into the air at him. The man seemed to be in a rush, but looked over at her alarmed and perturbed. Angrily, he addressed her.  
"What did you ca- No…..not you," he replied as he recognized Louise. He stopped in his tracks for a few seconds. A giant grin painted itself across her face.  
"Don't have time to deal with you. Late for work," he said and started back toward his car, faster than before. Louise turned around and followed him.  
"Hey! You never answered me about that book! What am I supposed to do if I can't read the book of the guy I'm not a fan of? Can you imagine my distress?! CAN YOU?" she called out loudly.  
"Oh sh**," he muttered after dropping his keys at his car door.  
"WOAH! Your smell just caught up with me. I can tell you didn't catch the hint about the body spray! You do realize you're destroying our ozone layer, not to mention my nostrils. Woo! Where's your humanity? Your decency?! What kind of human are you?!"  
"Shut up, will ya?" the man retorted. "You got a big mouth, you know that?"  
"All the better to abuse you with, my dear!" Louise answered. He'd figured out his keys and gotten into his car. Before pulling off, he put his hand out his window in a certain gesture that Louise was far too used to seeing from her victims. She grinned and turned back to Tina's apartment.

 _*Knock knock-knock knock knock….knock knock*  
_ The building in front of her was composed of dirty, red brick. Below her feet was a welcome mat with a worn and faded horse on it and the words, "Well howdy NeeeEEEeeigh-bor!". Louise waited for a few minutes but an answer didn't come. Walking to the side window, Louise grabbed some nearby gravel and began tossing them at the window panes, each one making a faint *clink*. Through the foggy glass she saw a head pop up, just the inquisitive eyes at first, then the whole face of her sister.

"Louise?" she heard muffled by the window. She watched as Tina tugged at the bottom in vain, trying to open the window. Then the head disappeared.

"Hi, Louise. Why are you throwing rocks at my window?" Tina said, walking around the corner of the apartment building.  
"Why aren't you answering your door?" she retorted.  
"Sometimes I worry burglars are going to try to break in, then probably take my stuff. I answered the window because I thought, maybe it was Joey trying to be romantic…" she trailed off.  
"Which is _why_ I was throwing rocks at your window." Tina turned to follow after Louise as she walked around and into the apartment.

"So what's new, Louise?"  
"Oh, you know, not much, taking the classes, gettin' the grades, destroying Logan Bush…." she said nonchalantly.  
"I hope you're grades are good. I'm proud of you for working hard in your classes. Wait, did you say Logan Bush? As in, Logan Bush?"  
"Your ears are sharp as ever, T."  
"Why are you destroying Logan Bush? Oh…..bush. I get it now. The bush you were yelling at was actually a real Bush. Is that why you missed lunch?"  
"THAT is the reason for a whole heck of a lot of things the past few days. And I. Need your help."  
"Wow, Louise, I'm honored. Tell me what's going on, girlfriend."  
"So look, the short story is Logan is still a public nuisance which I now need to dispose of. You're welcome. And I went to Georgia but her idea is _completely_ inappropriate so I need some good ol' sisterly advice. Capisci?"  
"If that means, 'do I understand', then yes. I capee-shee..ee…...shee. What was Georgia's idea?"  
Louise laughed scornfully. "Crazy girl has lost her mind! She thinks, get this, that I should get him to go out with me, make him fall head over heels for me, then dump him! And ruin his life or something. HA! Crazy, right? AM I RIGHT?"  
"Oh no! Louise! Tell me you aren't going to do that?" Tina said urgently. Louise was surprised by the sudden earnestness in Tina's voice.  
"Of course not! Who in their right mind would wanna date that blonde yeti?"  
"Actually, I remember my freshman year of High School that a lot of girls liked him because-"  
"Don't care, Tina," she interrupted. All she wanted was confirmation from her sister that Georgia's idea was dumb.  
"Well but, you asked so…..Ok. Well, I'm glad you aren't going to go through with it. That's probably the worst thing you could do to a person, and I know you hate him - you do hate him right?" Louise just stared at Tina. "I'm taking that as a 'yes', but playing with someone's love…their heart and soul, the reason they wake up in the morning and take their first breath…something so sanctimonious, so precious….That's pure evil…something I don't think even you are capable of. That's not something a person bounces back from after, well, sometimes years, Louise. Can you imagine how vulnerable he would be with you? How much responsibility and control you'd have as his confidant and lover? He could be devastated. It IS a really terrible idea and I'm proud of you for not going through with it!" Tina ended her speech with a 'hrrmph' and a firm nod of her head. Her words were tumbling around in Louise's mind like a Powerball drum. She watched as if right in front of her mind's eye, she could see the key, winning words separating from the rest and chuting through the tube to the winning slots:

Worst. Evil. Vulnerable. Control. Terrible. Devastated.

A light flicked on and Louise could see Georgia's plan clearly. It did make perfect sense and the time investment was worth it. She could wrap him around her little puppeteer fingers and make him writhe, wriggle, and weep at her command, then come crawling back, begging for more. Then when she was done with her fun, she could cut him off from his Louise supply – starve him…suffocate him, maybe give him a little drink now and then to keep him in torture, then truly end him. It _was_ perfect. It was everything she wanted.

"Louise?" Tina asked her silent sister. Louise looked right into her sister's eyes.

"Thank you, Tina. You've been _very_ helpful."  
"You're welcome, Louise. I'm really glad we could have this talk."  
"Me too. Meee too…" and she said goodbye to her sister and started back to the dorm.


	17. Chapter 17

Her legs couldn't get her to her room fast enough. Impatient to hatch a plan, she called Georgia.

"Yes, Louise?"  
"You can't say 'I told you so'…or else I'm not doing it."  
"Doing what?"  
"Your original plan. Mission Breakup."  
"OH Lou! REALLY?!"  
"Yeah yeah yeah…Turn down your volume. Gosh. Here's the snag though, Georgie Poo, he's supposed to be leaving this evening. Might have already left actually. Man, _wish_ I could call him or something, but some dumbbutt got rid of his number… _"_ Louise only paused for a few seconds and as Georgia was getting ready to come clean about having the card, Louise continued talking.  
"But hey! It's your lucky day because _I_ still have his email! HA! Thought you were being _so sly_ earlier."  
"Phew! Wow that's good to hear…" Georgia was relieved she could still keep the card a secret. "Where are you? Are you heading back?"  
"Yeah. 'Bout 5 minutes."  
"I'll call Max. He has Monday nights free. If Logan is still in town we can do a double date. That way it's chill enough and comfortable enough for you, yeah? I can jump into the conversation if I need to AND, that way, there's no kissy kissy you have to worry about because we'll be there. Don't wait til you get here to ask him. Email him about a double date for dinner. Call me back if he responds before you get here. Love you, byyyYYYEEeee!"

With that Georgia hung up the phone and Louise was left blinking her eyes, surprised at how quick Georgia's brain had concocted the plan. Then it donned on her – Georgia _had_ been planning this. It'd been her plan from the beginning. She'd already thought about the double date and had probably talked to Max already too, in hopes that Louise would come around to the idea. She sighed and opened up her email on her phone. There was the synced message in her sent folder. She opened it up and typed out a quick e-mail to Logan. Her finger hovered over the send button. _"This has to be worth it…right?"_ she thought and then Tina's voice reminded her, _"That's probably the worst thing you could do to a person."_ A devilish smile played around her lips and crinkled the outside corners of her eyes. _"Oh yes, it's worth it."_ _ **[Send]**_

Georgia dialed Max's number immediately following her conversation with Louise.  
"Hey, did she say "yes?"  
"YESSSS! AAAAHHH!" Georgia screamed into the phone. "This is SO perfect. Now everything is going to work out like I'd planned. So you need to be ready in case he's able to meet tonight."  
"Dear, I'm already dressed in ma' best. What kind of partner in mischief do you think I am?"  
"The best kind, of course. I'll call or text you when it's for sure," Georgia said. Max could hear her giant smile through her voice.  
"Alright, but from now on I'm calling you, 'Yente'."

The bathroom was steamy and the mirror completely clouded.  
"Whatever happened to the notion of the bathroom fan?" Logan grumbled to himself. He wrapped a towel around his waist and attempted to clear a portion of the glass. His hands pulled at different areas of his face – inspecting under his eyes, at his hairline, and at the light shadow of rough, blonde hairs, poking through the pores of his chin. Satisfied with what he saw, he brushed his fingers through his wet hair. _"I'll shave tomorrow,"_ he decided.

Logan sauntered out of the bathroom and pulled out a pair of boxers. Slipping them on, he removed the towel and ruffled through his hair with it. Walking back toward the bathroom, he stopped in front of the door to the closet which had a full sized mirror on its entire surface. The reflection was exactly what he expected to see – a tall slender man with thin, but strong muscles, not overly defined abs, but noticeable, filled out shoulders, and killer calves. Everything checked out like it should except for his expression. Usually it was a mix of casual contentment and hidden mischief. Today it was a combination of anxiety and excitement. He sighed. After hanging up his towel he figured he'd do some work to help pass the time otherwise spent waiting.

"Alright….." he mumbled after opening his sleek laptop. It bzzzed to life and the desktop image of a professional skateboarder sat perfectly on his screen as all the icons loaded. He clicked on his mail link and as the unread messages, in bold lettering, appeared at the top of his inbox, a knock sounded from the other side of his door, drawing his eyes away from a certain e-mail that needed to be read.  
"Housekeeping!" a voice called out. Logan scanned the room and decided that there was enough mess from the past few days to merit a sprucing.  
"Yeah! One moment, please!" he called back and quickly found gym shorts and a t-shirt. He dressed in a hurry, closed his laptop, and after tugging on his sneakers, slipped his wallet into his pocket and opened the door.  
"Yes please. Thanks, yeah, I'll go down and grab some coffee for a bit," Logan said warmly to the housekeeper. Years of listening to his mother verbally berate and degrade the maids in her house could have really soured his mindset toward service staff, but instead, he felt like each time he treated someone nicely, it was his way of apologizing for his mother's behavior.

He realized it felt good to get out of his room, even if just to grab a nasty cup of coffee. The elevator *dinged* at the first floor and he walked out and toward the lobby. Near the breakfast area was a complimentary coffee bar with three kinds of coffee. Regular, Decaf, and a hazelnut. Also near the breakfast area was a little wall shelf that housed multiple leaflets and maps for the town. Logan stepped over to browse while he waited for an elderly man at the coffee to finish. Skimming the brochures he found one for the college. It was a booklet with multiple pictures of different on-campus groups, and classrooms, some random students here and there. It was rather boring. Logan was on the last page when he noticed something in one of the group photos. It was an up close pic of three girls supposedly studying in a classroom, but in the background, way in the back, was _someone_ throwing up the bird.

"No WAY!" Logan exclaimed, louder than he'd intended to. He laughed. It was definitely Louise. Even with the picture being kind of blurry, he could discern her face, and it looked like she had a satchel bag on. "Can't see how they missed that…" he chuckled to himself. He shook his head slowly and when he checked the coffee, he found the man was gone so he closed the brochure and tucked it under his arm. He opted for the hazelnut and it was slightly better than the hot, dirt water he came to expect at hotels. Coffee and pamphlet in hand, he made his way back to his room, grinning like a little kid, lost in his own little happy world.

Housekeeping had finished and he was pleased to walk into a fresh, tidy room. He sat down at the desk and studied the picture again. " _Definitely her…"_ he thought. When he set it on the desk open, the last page kept sliding across the table, trying to close itself up. Frustrated, he picked it up and bent it backward, then set it back on the desktop very carefully, ensuring that the page would stay open to her picture. He chuckled again.  
"Okay…. _now_ I'll be able to get some work done,' he said with a smile.

When he lifted the screen, his computer resumed from its earlier spot and now his eyes landed squarely on the e-mail that had patiently been waiting for him. His smile quickly straightened out and some of the color drained from his face. A deep inhale gave him a moment to think before opening it. Then his eyes narrowed as a suspicious thought entered his mind. _"Why didn't she just text? Did I miss a text?"_ He checked his phone – no message. _"Why e-mail? Oh no…she wouldn't send me a virus…would she?"_ He felt that twinge of frustration from earlier in the day. It was as if he had to be on edge because she'd pull some sort of crap like this at any point… "Ugh, I hate you, Louise," he whispered, clicking on the e-mail.

 **[No Subject]**

Yo, Bushbutt, dinner with Georgia and Max?

Logan's eyes blinked multiple times with his fingers frozen on his keyboard. He cracked his neck in both directions and told her to name the time and place – but no guns this time.

 **Author's Note:  
I would have loved for this to have been a longer chapter considering how long it's been since I've posted, but I really just wanted to get the story going again for you all. Sorry! And thanks for all the follows! **


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"You didn't say anything about me having to dress up for this!" Louise scolded. "He might not even be in town anymore, so why go through this torture?" Louise had returned to her room after the fateful conversation with her sister, ready to be greeted at the door by an overly excited Georgia. The image of a puppy, bouncing around in enthusiastically energetic circles at the return of its owner is what came to mind. She wasn't far off. The circus show had finally calmed down and Georgia had started rattling over her plans and suggestions for the evening.

"Oh hush!" Georgia said while rolling her eyes. She was rustling through Louise's closet to assemble the perfect outfit. "Suck it up, Buttercup, because I'm doing your hair and make-up too. You've got to be ready just in case. It's already almost 4 o'clock and if he _is_ leaving today, he might opt for an early dinner. And adding a little flare to your hair won't hurt by any means. Actually, it'll make your job easier, if anything." Two separate outfits had been pieced together and were laying tidily on Louise's bed. The first was composed of a dark teal blue sweater dress and a pair of thick black leggings. The back of the sweater had a "V" cutting down to the middle part of the back that showed snippets of skin through lacy fabric. The second outfit paired jeans with a long white tee and a light tan, faux leather jacket. Both outfits belonged entirely to Georgia and were picked out when the matchmaker decided nothing in Louise's wardrobe would cut it.

"Choose," Georgia commanded.

Louise studied her friend's facial features and decided there was probably no way out of this. She picked up the t-shirt, jacket, and pants and after flashing a disgusted look at Georgia, started to change.

Georgia's face lit up in glee and she then started gathering her beauty supplies.  
"Any reply yet?"  
"You mean since the last time you asked me about 2 minutes ago?" Louise said dryly. Nevertheless, she shuffled over to her computer with her jeans halfway up her legs, clicked the refresh button, and felt her breath hitch in her throat as she saw the bolded **[No subject]** reply from Logan. A breathy expletive spilled from her lips, just loud enough to catch Georgia's attention. In a heartbeat, she had bounded over to Louise to read the message.

"EEEEE!" she squealed, causing Louise to recoil. "Where do you wanna go?" Georgia asked as she started to type out a reply. After a pause with no response from Louise, she asked again, this time looking over to find Louise wide-eyed and frozen in place.

"I don't….feel so good…" she muttered and stumbled back to sit on the edge of her bed. The normally robust color in her face was gone and her arms hung limp at her sides. Georgia just grinned.

"Oh calm down, ya ninny. It's just a date. And we'll be there too. No need to go ghost about it. How about Humberto's? He doesn't say anything about leaving so we could meet around 5:30. Yeah?" Louise slowly raised her eyes and was met with Georgia's matter-of-fact, "you're not getting out of this" expression.

"Okay..."

"Perfect!" Georgia spun back to the computer and started tapping out her response. Her mind was awhirl with devious excitement. After she hit [reply] she turned back to Louise and found her in the same position as before.

"Woah girl, are you seriously freaking out about this?" she said, this time with genuine concern, as she sat down next to her friend. "Okay, you know what? It's not a date. Don't think of it that way. This is a mission! He's your prey and you are luring him into a false sense of security, waiting to pounce, right? You are the mastermind in control, which means you have to be cool and collected."

As Georgia continued to rephrase the evening, Louise began to straighten up, color came back to her cheeks, and a fire kindled deep in her eyes. " _Yes…this is my revenge…it's all part of the plan…I'm not_ actually _going on a date with him. I'm getting him right where I want him!"_ she thought to herself while nodding in agreement.

"That's ma champ!" Georgia said as she noticed the return of Regular-Louise. "Now, let's get you ready to knock him dead!" she said with a mischievous grin. Louise felt empowered by the control Georgia exhibited and by the idea of making Logan pay. She followed Georgia into the bathroom and went over their plan while her hair transformed into a sexy updo that showed off her slender neck and smooth jawline. Her hair usually just air dried and hung casually down, so having her hair up made quite the statement. Georgia then continued to her face and applied a gentle smoky eye, complete with full, lush eyelashes, a very light blush, and glossy lips.  
"MMmmmmMM!" Georgia exclaimed with a couple of eyebrow raises. "You might just turn me!" she laughed.  
Louise rolled her eyes, "You aren't my type anyway," she joked. She inspected herself in the mirror and nodded in modest approval, "Not bad. Not bad at all. Though, let's be honest, you were given a great canvas to work on."

This time Georgia rolled her eyes and scoffed at Louise. After calling Max and telling him the details of the evening, Georgia got herself ready, leaving Louise to her thoughts.

Her emotions see-sawed up and down - one moment she was hot with anger at him kissing her, the next moment she was nervous about how the evening would play out. Then she'd think about how good it would feel to crush him, only to be followed by the thought of him _not_ being interested in her and then the plan failing, leaving her feeling not only angry, but also dejected. She'd never casually dated. Her relationship with Rudy had just kind of, materialized. They had been friends for so long and their junior year, she found him broken-hearted by yet another stupid undeserving bimbo. She'd had enough, so she claimed him. In fact, the rest of the school knew it before he did. She'd passed the rumor to a girl who she knew would send it on to Tammy, and before long, every girl was scared to even talk to him for fear of facing Louise. At first Rudy was upset, but the more Louise forced him to play the part, the easier the pretending became, and soon they were hanging out not just as friends, but as boyfriend and girlfriend. It'd been so easy and so natural that she'd never felt the way she did now. It frustrated her.

Georgia's voice startled her out of her reverie. "Ready to go? Max is outside."

Louise looked over at her alarm clock. Sure enough – 5:13pm. " _Alright, Louise. Let's make this mutha-effa pay,"_ she thought while using a deep breath to stoke the flames of her burning revenge. They grabbed their coats and made their way down and out to Max's car.

======

The reply came only a few minutes after he'd sent his acceptance to the invite. He promptly looked up the directions to the restaurant and then leaned back in the hotel chair. Should he get flowers? He didn't think Louise was a flower-type-girl, but he also never imagined he'd be going on a date with her. What time should he be there? Was she even going to show? Maybe she _was_ planning to stand him up. All he had were professional clothes and super casual clothes – he wasn't sure which to wear. He got up and paced the hotel room for a few minutes.

"Get a grip, man!" he chided himself. He checked the clock and found he still had about an hour to kill. _"Wish I hadn't done my jog already…"_ he thought. The TV light flickered after he pushed the power button and the channels all seemed to blur together as he skimmed through them. He settled on some cheesy murder show and lounged back on the bed. After close to 20 minutes he couldn't sit any longer so he changed into jeans and a long sleeve green shirt, gathered his things, and decided to wait at the restaurant rather than the room. He reasoned with himself that if he got there early enough, he could wait in his car until she showed up and then go in. That way if she didn't show up at all, he wouldn't look like a fool sitting solo at a table for four.

The paint smell had dissipated some from his coat and he was glad for it, because November evenings were cold. He got into his car and adjusted the heat until he was comfortable and then drove to the restaurant. Circling the parking lot once through, he found a spot where he could see any car that came in and parked. Another half hour and he'd know if he was going to be eating tacos that evening or not.

===

"Well lookie there…" Logan mused. A red car had pulled into a parking spot at 5:33pm, and two girls and one guy had gotten out. He clearly made out Georgia's face, but Max and Louise had their backs to him. He tried to quietly exit his car and waited til they were all facing away from him before he quick-stepped over to the group and up behind Louise. Without warning her of his presence, he leaned down to say something just to her,  
"I didn't peg you as an 'on-time' kind of gal. You must be reeeally excited to see me."

Louise's skin jumped off her bones, and without thinking, she'd twisted around and her hands were forcefully pushing at the body that was suddenly so close to her.

"You creep!" she shouted, shoving him a few feet from her. Logan just chuckled and extended his hand out to Max and Georgia who were now aware of his presence.

"Hey, I know we've _informally_ met already, but I do recall some rude movie-goer interrupting our first meeting." He shot a look at Louise. "I'm Logan. Nice to meet ya. Thanks for letting me tag along."

Max and Georgia were all politeness and cool, comfortable greetings. Louise watched her friend, in particular, glow with hospitality as she asked Logan if he'd been waiting long, how was his hotel, which kind of table he preferred…she also noticed an amused Logan steal glances at her as they waited for a table. When a hostess came to seat them, Max and Georgia followed immediately, but Logan waited just an extra second so he could whisper to Louise,

"You look nice, Two-Ears."

She blushed. "Yeah well, you look as scummy as ever," she replied and walked past the grinning man to follow her friends while mentally berating her roommate. To her horror she found Georgia and Max sitting next to each other on one side of a booth table…meaning she'd be sitting right next to Logan. She tried to scowl at Georgia as she sat down, but the schemer was purposefully avoiding Louise's eye contact and was smiling invitingly at Logan. He slid right into the booth, up against Louise, as if he was begging her to push him again. Louise, however, was so annoyed by how "at ease" he was playing it – he was trying to make her uncomfortable by being…comfortable – that she decided to accept his silent challenge and outdo him. She didn't nudge him to scoot over. She didn't even shift away from him, though there was room to. Instead, she reached across in front of him to grab the menu setting at the edge of the table, intentionally brushing her arm against him in the process. As her arm retreated back with menu in hand, she could sense that his body had tensed up. _"Nobody bests the best,"_ she thought to herself proudly. _"Maybe this_ will _be fun,"_ she continued to muse.

Max gave Logan a few suggestions on what was particularly good on the menu, and Georgia and Louise talked about getting two entrees to share. The server came to their table with complimentary chips and salsa and after taking their order, collected their menus. He came back shortly with their drinks. Louise found that she didn't have to do much talking – Max had struck up a safe conversation with Logan about his work and Georgia was totally engrossed in it. Louise listened to see if what he had shared in her class lined up with what he shared now. The only difference she found was that he made more jokes and laughed more this time.

"But tell me this, Bushman," Louise interjected, catching Logan by surprise. Georgia's eyebrows went up in delight. "You said you suck at writing, yeah?"

"'Suck' is a strong word…" Logan responded dryly.

"But accurate I'm assuming. What kind of books did you try to write? Romance novels? Sappy poetry? Intergalactic travel stories?"

"Uh close. 'Intergalactic romance poetry' to be exact. Ha no, actually, I really got into –" Logan was interrupted by the server coming to the table with their food. After everyone had their plate, the conversation turned to Louise and Georgia divvying up their share of each other's entrée and sides.

"I want the beans this time," Georgia stated.

"No way, you greedy porker! You've had them the past five times, at least," Louise argued, hoarding her plate closer. "I get half or your enchilada, but you can have my rice, some fries, and one of my tacos for being on good behavior."

"Hey! I've been on good behavior!" Logan joined in. "What do I get?"

Louise looked at Logan's eager face, then down at his plate. "I'll give _you_ the beans if I get half your burrito."

"What kind of trade is that?" remarked Max. "Dude man, you can do better." But Logan was already cutting his burrito in half and then pulling Louise's plate closer to him.

"Yesss!" she cheered. Then she leaned closer to Logan to make sure she was indeed getting half, and no less than half, of the burrito. Georgia snuck a glance at Max who just shook his head with a grin. While transferring the food onto her plate, he dropped some of the filling onto the table. He cursed and looked for a napkin. There was a napkin dispenser on the other side of Louise, but because she was leaning toward him and the table, he didn't have space to reach in front of her. Instead, he reached his arm behind and around her to grab a few napkins. Louise was uncomfortably aware that his reach had brought her closer into his side, essentially pulling her into a hug, and she felt a flush rise to her face. Thankfully he was quick about it, cleaned up the mess, and then retrieved his beans without any mishap. He pushed the plate back in front of her spot then looked up at Georgia,  
"Sorry miss, but apparently burrito trumps enchilada, so the coveted beans are mine," he taunted.  
Georgia pretended to pout and then turned her hungry gaze to Max and his plate.  
"Oh you've got to be kidding…" Max said. He then took a big spoonful of the beans as if to put them on her plate, but at the last second, scooped them right into his own mouth instead. Georgia huffed with a look of surprise and the other two laughed. "Mmm, ta' ss so goo'" Max tried to say through the giant mouthful of food.

Logan enjoyed himself throughout the meal. Louise too, until close to the end, Georgia went and asked what she thought was a pointless and stupid question.

"So tell me, Logan, what was Louise like before? You knew her when? How old were you guys?"

Logan's expression turned ornery and he looked over at Louise. He saw her dart her eyes down to her side where she had her hand clenched up into a tight fist. Logan smirked.

"A total freak, honestly," but his words were cut short by a "hrmph!" as his right side was met with a quick and efficient jab. "I mean, *cough* a total freak..ingly awesome kid…"

"Louise!" Georgia chided under her breath. She knew Louise had inflicted some kind of pain on him, so she kicked her legs around under the table until she connected with her target. Louise reacted minimally to the kick and turned to Logan, "Go on," she said menacingly.

"Heh, uh, well, I was like 17 I think when I first met the pipsqueak a—". Another "oomph" pushed out of his mouth. His hand went down to cover his side as he continued, "and she was super annoying and cocky." This time Louise side-kicked him. "Ow!" he whimpered. "So to teach her a valuable life lesson, I took a hat that she was freakishly obsessed with." She pinched the arm that was defending his side. "And the kook was so crazy she followed me around the whole next day like some sad, pathetic, desperate dog," she poked him hard in the side, up under his arm. This time, however, he grabbed onto her wrist and pinned it down to the booth right beside him. As she tried to wriggle free without being so obvious about what was going on, Logan continued. "She was SO crazy, that she chased me down with a legit biker gang and almost had the side of my head mutilated…You do know your friend is a psychopath, right?" he addressed both Max and Georgia. They chuckled and shook their heads in affirmation.  
"So anyway," he proceeded after regaining complete control over Louise's wrist, "she continued to be a big ol' pain in my arse until I left for college. And even now it seems she's come back to haunt me as my own personal nuisance." He let go of her wrist and turned a daring smile her way. He saw a familiar and intoxicating blaze in her overall demeanor. This is what he came for – the thrill of testing the "Ocean de Louise" to see just how tempest it could be.

Louise desperately wanted to lash out both physically and verbally, but she knew that that was what he expected. To beat him at this game, she'd have to change how she played. She simply turned to Max and Georgia and with a half turned up smile, shrugged her shoulders as if to say, "yep, 'bout sums it up."

"It's true. Some might have called me, an 'antagonistic' kid." She then changed her tone to make it sound earnest – almost vulnerable. "And actually, Logan's one of the only people who'd ever seen me without my hat at that time…it was almost like he knew a part of me that no one else did." And then she turned the warmest, most affectionate smile she could muster on the poor, unsuspecting soul. It had the effect she wanted.

Logan felt his heart putter about and his stomach filled with annoying, frantic butterflies pounding against his insides, trying to get out. Louise drank in his expression, memorizing it and savoring it, then she casually turned back to face forward and took a sip from her drink as if nothing unusual had happened.  
Logan sat stunned for what felt like an hour. Georgia and Max too, sat quietly, occasionally clearing their throats, taking drinks, and fidgeting with their napkins. They were all quite in danger of spending the remainder of the meal in silence, but Louise still wanted to prove to Logan that she was in control. She remembered back to when Georgia had first started dating Max. Georgia would always comment on how nice he looked, or if he'd done something new with his hair. She was always complimenting him. She was also always creating little moments of physical contact – a touch on the shoulder or arm, playfully bumping into him, brushing up against his side, - things like that.

Louise took a quiet breath, and then turned back toward her victim.  
"I meant to tell you, Logan, this shirt is a nice improvement from the graffiti fashion disaster. It looks nice on you," and as she said it, she put her hand on his arm and pinched just a bit of the soft fabric with her fingers, giving it a gentle tug, then smoothing it back out, putting slight pressure against his arm with her open hand. She finished him off with that same affectionate smile from before. Georgia about spit out her mouthful of soda and the table fell back into a lull of silence giving Louise time to mentally gloat, and Logan time to mentally compose himself. She was acting so…weird. More 'normal'. This was stuff he expected from other girls, not from Louise, so he was completely caught off guard.

This time, Georgia broke the silence.

"Soooo, does anyone want dessert, or want to go do something else?" she posed the question to the group, but looked directly at Max. He picked up on her cue.  
"Actually, sorry guys, but I forgot that I have some errands to run before tomorrow. Georgia, you wanna come with me?"  
"Yeah! Can I do some clothes shopping too? I'm looking for a new winter coat," she said as she lifted the coat at present up off the booth next to her. "Louise, would you like to do some shopping with me?" she asked, _too_ innocently.

"Georgia, you know how much I _looove_ shopping with you…" was Louise's sarcastic reply.  
"Alright then," Max said quickly. "Supper's on us, but I gotta run. Hey Logan, it was really nice getting together, man." His words were warm and familiar as he put enough money on the table to cover the bill and tip. They both then shuffled out of the booth and in a flash, they were gone.

Logan looked over at Louise. "They plan that?"  
"I'm sure they did….," she replied matter-of-factly.  
Logan slid out of his seat and around the table so he was sitting where Georgia had been, opposite of Louise.  
"So what's up with you?" he questioned.  
"Hmm? Same ol' same ol'. You?"  
"Not what I meant. What's _up with you_? Why are you acting like the anti-Louise?"  
"What do you mean? I'm acting like my normal, charming self," she said with a grin.  
Logan scoffed. "Hardly…," he muttered as he picked up the cash that Max had left and tossed it over to Louise. "Give this back to Max, will ya?" Logan called out to their server as he passed by and handed him the check with his own credit card.

"Now, Miss Flirty Pants, I'm in the mood for a hot coffee or something. Are you coming with me? Or are you catching a cab?"


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Louise was weighing her options when her phone buzzed in her back pocket. Pulling it out, she wasn't at all surprised to find a text from Georgia.

 _"Don't be mad. I'm just trying to help get you a head start." Sender: Georgie Poo Poo_

Louise huffed through her nostrils and then looked up at Logan who was apparently expecting an answer. His expression was relaxed yet playful, kind of curious, with his eyes fixed squarely on her. It made Louise uncomfortable, and a flush crept out onto her cheeks, but she didn't look away.

"Coffee sounds divine," she said with a playful tilt of her head. Logan chuckled and pulled his own phone out to check the time.

"Have somewhere to be?" Louise casually asked.

"Oh, uh nah. Just checking. Wanted to make sure you weren't up too late past your bedtime, little girl," he teased.

"Pleeease. I should be concerned about you. Don't old geezers go to bed at like, 7:30?"

"Hey, I'm only 28. I can stay up until 9 most days. 10 on the weekends," he joked with a grin.

"Oh Ho! 10 even! What a feisty old man you are!"

"How old are you even? Baby Belcher can't be more than, what, 19?"

"Not telling," Louise replied. She was comfortable again because their familiar banter had returned. This was something she could do. If the evening progressed like this, she'd be fine. The server came back with Logan's card and the receipt. Logan wrote in the tip amount and signed his name. As he tucked his card away into his wallet, Louise peeked at the scribbled numbers on the tip line.

"Woah! Do you just love throwing money away or what? Why such a big tip?" she questioned.

"The tip? He did a good job."

"Not that good of a job…". Louise thought back to how much money he'd had in his wallet when they first met at the mall, and the things he'd bought her, even his car…. "Does your mommy still give you an allowance or something?"

Logan laughed snarkily, "I'd have to be in contact with Cynthia in order for that to be happening. Besides, I'm an old geezer, remember? Old geezers make their own money."

"Or live off of their social security check. So then are you loaded? Cuz' you use money like it's toilet paper! Use and toss, flushing it away."

"Does that make you a pile of poo? Because lately I've been spending my money on you…"

Louise laughed in spite of herself due to the way Logan sang the words - almost like a Hallmark card gone wrong - which elicited an affectionate smile from Logan. Making her laugh was almost as good as leaving her speechless.

"You never answered me before. Do you want to go do something?"

"Something hot would be nice," Louise said with a genuine smile.

"You mean something hot _to drink_ , cuz _I'm_ already sittin' right here," Logan said as he straightened up and puffed out his chest.

"Oh pleeease," the young woman across from him groaned as she started to slide out of the booth with her coat in her hand.

The two bundled up into their coats and then headed out toward Logan's car. As soon as they exited the restaurant, Logan darted away from Louise and got in his car. _"What the?"_ Louise thought. She kept her same walking pace, but her expression had changed into a mix of confusion and irritation. She saw him then get out of his car and trot back to her for the last 10 feet or so of the parking lot.

"What are you doi-" she started.

"It's frigid. I got the car started so it should almost be warmed up," Logan said nonchalantly, but to Louise he almost seemed embarrassed or shy. He didn't say anything for the next few steps but when they got to the car, he took a step in her direction, then hesitated, as if he was going to do something and then changed his mind, and went straight to his own door. When Louise got into the car she was indeed welcomed by warm air. After Logan buckled his seatbelt he turned to her and asked where she wanted to go. After giving him directions to a little restaurant in town that had great coffee and was known for its dessert pies, they fell into a silence that lasted the whole ride and up until they were shedding their coats and studying the dessert menu.

"So pie is what I'm here for?" Logan asked, looking at the pictures of delicious desserts.

"Yes. These are the pies of all pies. The Reese's one is like heaven in your mouth, but the Choco Quad reigns supreme. Chocolate pie crust, chocolate cream concoction filling, chocolate shavings, PLUS a homemade chocolate whipped cream." Louise was practically drooling.

"Wow. Sounds too rich for me. I'm not huge on chocolate actually," Logan replied, not looking up from his menu.

"What kind of heathen doesn't like chocolate? What ARE you?"

"I'm more of a….fruity kind of guy," he teased.

Louise laughed. "A fruity old geezer….greeeat."

A young waitress stopped at their table, took Louise's order, and then turned her attention on Logan. It was evident to Louise that the waitress was checking out the man sitting across from her.

"What can I get for you?" she said while keeping her eyes fixed on him.

"Coffee and a slice of the key lime, please and thank you," he responded with that same warm smile that Louise had been seeing more of. Louise observed with a mix of mirth and disgust as the waitress's countenance lit up and the lady practically skipped away from their table.

"You do that often?" she asked Logan.

"Order coffee and pie? Can't say that it's a regular thing, but it might be in the near future depending on how this evening goes," he said with a flirtatious smile.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Louise warned. "I meant making waitresses weak in the knees just by ordering pie."

"Usually it's the coffee that gets 'em. Don't know what it is about ordering coffee….," he replied with feigned innocence. He relaxed back into the booth and Louise mimicked his body language unintentionally.

"So tell me more about the Cynthia-Logan rift. I always thought you were going to be just like her, but I can't help but admit that you are a far cry from your Mommy-dearest."

"That is probably the nicest thing you, or anyone, has ever said to me," he said dryly. "Well, you know my parents split, yeah?"

"Oh. I guess? Not really. I never saw your dad much anyway."

"Yeah, so they split my senior year, which was whatever. Divorce happens all the time and my parents could have written a book on 'How best to ruin your marriage and make your spouse hate you', but I guess it got to me more than I expected it would. Since my mom didn't have my dad to condescend to and boss around anymore, and a lot of our house staff left, all her pent up aggression and self-loathing came down on me. So here's senior me, just trying to have fun with my friends, still picking on little kids in bunny ears, you know, just livin' the life - now the sole target of the she-witch…anyway, I thought things would get better when I left for college, but my parents still had some crazy expectations of me, particularly Cynthia, so I cut ties completely. Guess I'd just had enough."

"I'm honestly surprised," Louise said genuinely. "I really just expected you to end up a spoiled, belittling narcissist that felt everyone was beneath him who continued to pick on little children well into his later years."

"Jeez, thanks…" Logan said while twisting a napkin between his fingers. Louise could see the waitress coming with their order so she nodded at Logan to check behind him.

"Straighten up, Buttercup. Your new girlfriend is on her way back," she teased. Logan merely rolled his eyes, but prepared a smile on his face for the waitress who soon stopped at their table. She warmly addressed Logan and placed his pie and coffee cup down in front of him. She then poured a cup for him from the coffee carafe she had brought as well. She turned to Louise and while putting the pie on the table addressed Louise as "Sweetie" in a matronly manner. "I can pour your coffee too if you'd like," she offered. When Louise declined, the waitress set the carafe on the table, tucked the tray up under her arm, and then with a hand on Logan's shoulder, asked if there was anything else they needed.

Logan raised an eyebrow at Louise in amusement, "Nah, I think we're good now, thank you," and as he spoke to her, he reached his arm out to pick up the pitcher of coffee and poor some into Louise's cup, and in the process, displaced the waitress' hand from his shoulder.

"Thanks, _sweetie_ ," Louise said to Logan. The waitress put on a professional smile and walked away from their table. "Poor girl," Louise said quietly, watching the waitress disappear into the kitchen. Logan kept his eyes on Louise while thoughts swirled around the inside of his head.

"So what about you?" he said as he lifted the coffee cup to his lips. "What're your folks up to? Bob still cranking out burgers?"

"Every day of his life. He experimented with paninis and wraps for awhile – my mom's idea - but that didn't sell well at a place with the word 'Burgers' as fifty-percent of its name…Talking about parental expectations, would you believe they wanted me to stick around and take over that joint?" Louise replied. Her last sentence sounded odd to Logan, as if she was saying it too casually, as if there was more to the story than she was letting on.

"Not your dream job?" he prompted.

"Hardly. I gotta make more money than that somehow. Find some sort of good hustle with short hours and big payouts."

"And your ideas are….?"

"Black market. Maybe train to be an assassin. Sell my own organs or first born or something," she said matter-of-factly as she took her first bite of pie.

Logan huffed out a laugh and rolled his eyes. "You're absurd."

"I've never claimed to be anything less!" she grinned and then turned off the joking lilt in her voice, "I just don't want to end up stuck like my dad, living paycheck to paycheck making burgers in a smelly ol' town full of people who don't appreciate him or his skill."

"Was he trying to pressure you? Do they support you coming to college?"

"Uh, no and yes. No pressure, yes support…"

"Oh well, that's good then. Take it from me…that's kind of huge. Much better than having your mother pay for tutors to harass you day in and day out about grades, and then go as far as to hire a PI of sorts to follow me around and report back to her about what I'm doing…"

"For real?!"

"The real-est. No joke, she's kind of psychotic."

"Man…I'm going to have to get my parents something extra awesome for Christmas this year. Hey, how do you like the pie?"

"It's good! Good pie, good coffee, great company," and before Louise could react to his last statement, Logan continued with another question. "So what about your sibs? Tina is here right? What about your brother?"

"Yeah Tina goes here too. She switched majors, I think 4 times? First she wanted to do Equestrian studies, which I'm convinced isn't really a thing, then switched to Anthropology of Genders studies, then there was some sort of English phase, and now I'm not even sure to be honest. She's been here a few extra years because of that. Gene is in a theater group in a nearby town. He does pretty much everything he's ever done in his life – eat, write music, be ridiculous in front of people, entertain, all the usual, but now he actually gets paid for some of it, though minimally. It seems like a good fit."

"So what would be your 'good fit'? What do you think your skills are?"

"Seriously? You sound so old…." she joked and then took a big bite of her dessert and sat thinking about her reply. "Aside from being awesome at everything, I am particularly good at numbers. They always make sense and are easy to manipulate. I'm super great at…spinning tales, shall we say?, so creative writing is a synch. I've thought about detective work before because in all honesty I'm probably only one DNA helix away from being a sociopath – "

"Yeah I caught on to that."

"- so crime investigation would be easy. I would just have to think about what I would do in any given situation. So yeah, let's just say the world is my oyster." It wasn't until after she'd finished her answer that Louise realized talking to Logan was actually kind of easy. It was definitely more comfortable than she'd anticipated.

"So a super sleuth, an author, or a mathematician? What about a businessman? See, you would need the math knowledge to handle the numbers and logistics of your company, the creative part would help you keep your business edgy and relevant, the lying is obviously necessary, and I guess being manipulative and emotionless can be good for business too."

Louise looked thoughtful for a moment and Logan couldn't tell if she was taking him seriously or not. She was trying to picture herself sitting in a big leather chair, behind a big desk, a shiny gold plaque with her name on it sitting on the front edge of the polished wood, a fat cigar resting between her lips while she held a tumbler of brandy in her hand.

"Yesss….businessman….or mob boss maybe," she pondered aloud. She'd emptied her first cup of coffee already so she poured herself another and then without thinking about it, stood up enough out of her seat to see if Logan needed more. Since his was almost gone, she poured some into his cup as well.

"Well thanks! What friendly service they have here," he said, surprised.

Not fully aware of her own actions, Louise was somewhat startled by what Logan said. Then realizing what she'd done, she replied, "Hey, just make sure you give me as good a tip as that other server."

The conversation continued pleasantly as they began to talk about the James Harvey books. Louise openly divulged her love for the books and for once was met with equal enthusiasm. Logan found it refreshing to have someone to talk with about all the finer details in the books – the ones that would go unnoticed by a casual reader. The waitress only checked back one other time, and since their order had been minimal, she went ahead and brought the check with her.

Finally, after discussing almost all of the books, engaging in some music group analysis, and laughing at their own celebrity impersonations, a few of the lights in the restaurant went dim and they both realized it was almost 10 and the restaurant would be closing soon.

"Looks like we're getting kicked out," Logan said. He pulled out some bills to cover the check and a little extra in the tip since they'd sat for so long.

"You really are being too generous…," Louise commented.

"Look, when you grow up watching wait staff and servants being treated like garbage your entire life, it changes how you view people. That's all. You've served in your dad's restaurant, right? I'm sure you loved it if you got a nice tip for doing good work."

"Yeeeah, didn't do 'good' work very often. More like 'bare minimum just enough to not get fired by my own dad' kind of work," she replied as she put on her coat.

They walked out to the foyer of the restaurant.

"Want to wait here? I can pull up the car-"

"Oh good grief," Louise chided and then she pushed open the door and started a brisk walk to his car. Logan quick-stepped to catch up and shot a grin her way. They climbed in and huddled up to the air vents as it began to blow air into the cabin. The tension in their bodies released in response to the air warming up, until both people were reclining back into their seats.

"Soooo….." Logan ventured. He was torn. He was having a legitimately good time with Louise, but it was already 10 o'clock and she probably had classes tomorrow or homework or something. Or maybe she hadn't had any fun? Maybe she couldn't wait for the evening to be over…..

"Soooo yes, I still have a Georgia to deal with tonight which will be at least an hour and a half, and I know a certain old man who is up past his bedtime…so, if you could take me home then…" Louise responded. She was having very similar thoughts to Logan. The past few hours had been fun, actually, and though she was surprised to admit it to herself, had it been earlier in the evening, she wouldn't have minded a bit more time with him. Then she remembered that he was supposed to be leaving town.

"Wait a minute. Didn't you have to go back to the city?" she asked.

"I originally had a business meeting tomorrow morning but it was postponed. I actually have the next few days free…" he was trying to ask if she wanted to see him again, but felt clumsy with his words.

"Huh…" she half-said to herself. "Oh, take a left here to head back to the dorms," she interjected. "A right at the next light." She thought about how she was going to respond to his statement. _"If you're going to go through with this plan, Louise, then you need to really convince him,"_ she thought to herself. "Another right." _"This would be a perfect opportunity, I guess..."_ "Here's the last turn, left, and there's the front of my building," she directed Logan. She remained silent until he had pulled up in front of the building's entrance. Logan had been silent as well, frustrated that he had no clue what she was thinking.

"Well, that was…tolerable, Mr. Bush. And I guess if you don't have anything better to do the next few days, you could buy me another meal or something." Louise tried to make her words sound effortless, but the truth was that she felt nervous to hear his response. If she'd taken a second to look over at her companion, however, she would have seen an immediate lift in the man's mood.

Logan's body eased up at her words and a giant smile forced itself onto his face. He cleared his throat to compose himself before answering.

"I guess I could handle more of your company. Let me know what you have in mind. I have to leave either Wednesday night or early Thursday. Got it?"

"I'll send a carrier pigeon. OH! That reminds me, I need your number again. My phone must have gotten so disgusted of you, that it somehow deleted it or something…," Louise fibbed. Logan rattled off his number and Louise saved it under the name **Bushman**.

"K, til then Logie Poo Poo Bear!" Louise cheerfully called out as she bounced out of his car and on up to her building, not looking back at the blonde man who looked rather smitten with the brunette.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"Gotta hand it to ya', George, you're doing better than I thought," Louise taunted her roommate. Louise had put an ultimatum to her friend the second she'd entered their room – If Georgia wanted Louise to continue, she wasn't allowed to bombard her with questions about the evening. Honestly, Louise was tired and just wanted to be left alone to dissect her own thoughts, but as a cover up she accused Georgia of secretly being a double agent playing for the other side. "I can't share any intel with the enemy!" she had said. Georgia had reluctantly agreed and was now suffering the unbearable sensation of her curiosity burning through her resolve.

"Oh and it was _such_ an interesting evening, you would have _loved_ to have been there…..too bad I can't tell you alllll about it."

"Ugggghh…I hate you…" Georgia sighed in frustration. "Can you at least tell me if things went well? Are you going to see each other again? Was he nice? He didn't try any funny business, did he?"

"Ah ah ah," Louise tsked, wagging her finger at her friend. "No questions."

"But you're okay, right? He didn't do anything?"

It occurred to Louise that Georgia was worried as much as she was curious. She hopped onto Georgia's bed and dog piled onto her friend.  
"You know…now that I think about it…what kind of friend ditches her girl and leaves her with some guy she doesn't know, that late in the evening, without calling or texting to see if she was okay, with no transportation at that – "

"I know! I don't know what I was thinking! Louise, I'm so so sorry! Max even got after me for it after we left."

Louise rolled her eyes and patted her friend on the head.  
"Georgie, I'm not one to be overtaken. Any guy would have to be a complete bozo to try something on me. I can go berserk mode at any second – it's like a superpower!" She stood up on the bed and jabbed some punches into the air at an imaginary bad guy. Then, with a "Hiyah!" she clumsily threw out a kick, which unbalanced her, and plopped her down onto the bed next to her friend.  
"Besides," she said, gazing up at the ceiling and with a slight change in the tone of her voice, "Logan's not like that, I don't think." Her voice sounded uncommonly gentle to the discerning ears of Georgia.  
"He's a nice guy, Georgia. Got the car warmed up for me and everything, that kind of guy. So calm your nerves. Everything was fine." To herself, Louise was just trying to assuage Georgia's worries, but to Georgia, it sounded more like an affectionate description. _"Things went very well it seems…"_ Georgia thought.

"Okay, alright. Fine. I won't ask anything else," Georgia said firmly in feigned frustration, and then forcibly removed Louise from her bed.

… …. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….

 _"Logie Poo Poo Bear….Logie Poo Poo Bear?..."_ Logan had been repeating the nickname over in his head most of the way back to his hotel. Even still, after settling into the room, he could hear her voice saying it and paired it with the visual of her casually bouncing away from him toward her building.  
"Logie Poo Poo Bear?" he questioned aloud, then he chuckled. The chuckle turned into a gentle laugh – the kind that bounces the shoulders. He rolled around on the bed and grabbed a pillow, squeezed it tightly in his arms, and buried his face in it while bouncing his legs up and down on the bed. He looked like an 11 year old girl who had gotten a check mark in the "yes" box of a confession letter – "Do you like me too? Check yes, check no."

"This is stupid! Get a grip, man!" he said and landed a slap to his face to shake himself up. He looked down at the pillow in his arms and chucked it across the room in embarrassment. He hopped out of bed and took a fighter's stance. He started shifting his weight back and forth between his feet, bouncing out some of his energy. He threw a jab, then a cross jab. Two more jabs. Then he took a step back, planted his forward foot, and kicked his back leg up into the air at his imaginary target. His kick went too high and he felt the floor make sudden, solid contact with his butt.  
"Aaahhhh…." He groaned, rubbing his sore bum.

He stayed seated on the floor, and brought his knees up, resting his elbows on them. A contented smile tugged one corner of his mouth up. After a few minutes, he caught himself daydreaming again, and tousled his hair around with his fingers in self admonition. There had to be something to get his mind off of her. He grabbed the remote and turned on the tv. He flipped through some channels and settled on the news. After just a few minutes though, he moved to the desk and opened up his laptop.

"Might as well check on some work…" he muttered to himself. Eventually Logan lost himself in a piece that needed to be edited and by the time he had finished, it was close to 11:30. The chair creaked as he leaned back in it, stretching out his back and legs.

 _"Time for bed,"_ he thought. _"Wonder if she's asleep already…"_ He reached for his phone and pulled up their previous texting conversation. _"I could message her I guess. She did say we could eat together again…I could ask about that. Yeah, I'll ask about that."_

Logan got as far as the word "hey" and stopped. He tried multiple questions. He typed and re-typed possible messages, but everything was either too embarrassing or cliché to him. _"Why is this so hard?!"_ he thought, feeling frustrated. It wasn't like she was the first girl he'd ever asked out. He wanted to sound casual and cool while still showing interest, but he had the worst case of writer's block.

"I guess less is more?" he mumbled and just left it at "hey". He hit **[send]** but immediately regretted it.  
 _"Ohh you idiot! 'Hey'? Really? That's the best you can do?"_ Logan started pacing the floor while clenching his cellphone. _"Stupid stupid stupid. Way to sound casual and cool, dude. Good job…"_

At the same time, Louise was nestled in her bed with her stuffed bunny under her arm and her phone sitting by her pillow. She had been deciding what her next move would be and contemplating just how long her revenge plan would take. A vibration drew her attention to her phone. She checked her message. Seeing that it was a message from Logan made her unexpectedly happy though somewhat nervous.

 _"Hey" Sender: Bushman_

 _"'_ Hey _'…..really, Logan? That's the best you got? Oh boy…."_ Louise thought and shook her head with a soft chuckle. She started typing at her phone.

 _"Wow…you really have a talent for wooing with words. You're making me weak in the knees…"_

In the hotel, Logan's pacing stopped when he heard the "ding" of a text message. He quickly checked the message and then smacked his hand on his forehead. _"Yep…good job, Logan,"_ he mentally said sarcastically. He shook his arms out as if to hit "reset" and decided to go on the offensive.

 _"Oh yeah? You know…there are other things I could do that would have the same effect…wait, sorry, other things I_ have _done…"_ Logan sent the message with a sinister grin. "Game on, Louise," he said with renewed confidence.

Louise's cheeks flushed at his words. She cursed at the man on the other side of the conversation and clapped her hand over her lips as if to protect them from another assault. Her skin got hot all over and her heart must have been doing jumping jacks by the feel of it. "You're dead," she grimaced.

 _"You wanna die? I'm gonna land a punch in your gut so hard tomorrow, you won't be able to stand up straight for a week!"_ she threatened in her message.

Logan checked the response message fully expecting a threat in some form, but only one word caught his attention. "Tomorrow," he whispered. A goofy grin covered half of his face. "Gotcha, Louise."

 _"Tomorrow, eh? You want to see me that bad? Fine. When and where, my little gremlin?"_ Logan flopped back onto his bed, at ease now.

Blankets rustled as Louise sat up in bed. "Dirty punk," Louise grumbled.

 _"Yeah, see, I got this itch in my fist, and it ain't gonna go away until it's scratched and you're gonna help with that. The library at 3:30, and don't be late or both fists will be itching. Got it?"_

 _"Yes sir!"_

Both Logan and Louise settled into their beds, one filled with mirth and excitement, the other with frustration and contempt.

 **Author's Note: Oops another hiatus followed by another short chapter! Sorry! Thanks for the reviews - they remind me to get back on my computer and write more!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hi dear readers!**

 **I wanted to give a (somewhat) quick synopsis of what's happened so far. Since it takes me forever to get to writing, it's probably easy to forget where we've left L and L. Also, thanks for sticking around! I still have a lot of plans for this story and I really appreciate your patience.**

 **Friday, Louise had finished her classes for the day and she and Georgia had decided to mall it up and catch a movie on Saturday with Max and Tina.  
Saturday came, Tina backed out, so the 3 go to the mall and boom! Louise runs into Logan, punches and slaps him, then gets a CD, a raincheck for a book, AND forty bucks. What a deal, huh?  
Sunday, Georgia goes to the library and spies Logan there in a casual meeting. She sneaky sneakies, but Logan catches her and gets revenge for Louise's punch and slap by convincing Georgia that Louise and he had in fact, been secretly dating, and that Louise had popped the big question to which Logan had said, no. Georgia tells Louise, who then goes a little crazy to be honest, gets a fake gun, and goes to meet Logan. He shows up with the book she wants, she gets sappy, they have dinner, she bails. End of day.  
Monday is fine until in English, surprise! Logan is the guest speaker talking about publication! Louise almost gets beat up by a drunk guy (I mean, who's drunk on a Monday morning? Spoiler, we'll find out later.) Logan saves her and they end up spending lunch and part of the afternoon together until she gets mad, then he gets mad, and then to prove that he always wins, he kisses her knowing she won't be expecting it (and because, let's be honest, he wanted to.) Louise goes to Georgia for a revenge plan and they decide to give Logan some heartbreak. They end up going to a double date, Georgia and Max ditch, Louise and Logan end up spending a bunch of time together and agree to see each other the next day, being Tuesday, being this Chapter.  
Phew! Let the fun begin anew.**

Chapter 21

Delectable, coffee scented odor particles danced through the air, making their way to the sleeping Louise and finding entrance into her nasal passages, acted as an alarm, telling her brain that it was time to wake. A big inhale drew more of the welcoming smell into her nostrils and prompted a big stretch and even bigger yawn. Louise lazily scratched her head and sighed, allowing her eyelids one more minute of rest. Georgia noticed her roommate stir and got up to pour a cup of coffee.

"We're almost out of coffee, Lou. Should we go shopping? We need TP too. Unless you wanna snag some extra rolls from the public bathroom," Georgia said.

"Hmm, yeah, we can go," Louise replied groggily. She got out of bed and thankfully accepted the cup of java from its supplier. "Good Morning, Joe. How nice of you to wake me up today," she cooed at the coffee mug. Georgia was finishing packing up her bag and then put on her winter gear.

"Lou, it's supposed to be extra cold today, I already checked. Oh, and when I was shopping with Max I saw a cute pair of gloves, and they were on sale, so they may or may not be in your coat pockets," she said. Then she slung her backpack over her shoulder, slipped her phone and keys into her pocket, and left the room.

Louise raised an eyebrow out of curiosity while sipping at the hot coffee. The cup thumped slightly as she sat it down on her desk in order to search her coat pockets. Out came two light pink gloves. The color matched her scarf almost exactly but they weren't made of regular knit material. The inside was lined with a soft fabric and the outside was a faux leather. They would have looked very mature, except that on each glove was an embroidered bunny face, complete with two faux leather bunny ears sewn onto the gloves, so that when she had them on, the ears pointed up toward her arm and would be concealed by her coat sleeve. The faces were cute, and well stitched. Louise loved them. A happy grin lit up her face, but she rolled her eyes at her non-present roommate. "It's like living with a little mother…" she muttered to herself.

Picking up her momentarily abandoned coffee, she situated herself at her desk and tried to remember if she had anything due in her morning class. Louise wasn't the most organized student, but with Georgia's help, she kept things together well enough. This would be the last year of general studies and then her academic advisor would harass her to pick a major and ultimately a life career.

Louise sighed. She wondered how many people actually stuck with the career they chose in college. She doubted it was many. Thanksgiving was coming up and she'd be back home with her sibs and the parentals which was fine, and something to look forward to…mostly. If it just weren't for her parents' subtle hints at taking over the restaurant, they'd all get along dandily, but she knew something would be said at some point and she'd have to snake around the topic. Now, even more so, they would be asking what major she was going to declare and since she really wasn't sure, she was leaving herself a weakness that her family could exploit.

"Load a' butts…." she muttered under her breath, disgruntled by her thoughts. _"Hmm, Logan went through this, kind of…wonder how he dealt with it….,"_ she thought casually. Actually, it wasn't the first time that morning that Logan had entered her thoughts. He had popped into her head when she took her coffee from Georgia, with a question of whether he'd already woken up. When she'd looked at her assignments, she'd thought how lucky he was to be done with school and not have any more homework to do. Louise was vaguely aware of this shift in her thoughts, but she attributed it to the fact that she was going to see him later that day. Now that her coffee had started to work its magic deep down in the pit of her soul, Louise grabbed her things to take a shower and officially start her day. Hopefully her classes would fly by and she'd get to land that promised hit right smack dab into Logan's gut. The thought was positively exhilarating.

After her shower, Louise slid into her black jeans and slipped on a dark green, button up flannel shirt. With her bag ready, and only minutes to spare, she was just about to pull on her boots when a thought struck her. Her mouth scrunched up on one side in some form of frustration mixed with indecision. Her eyebrows furrowed in contemplation. She slowly turned her eyes and then her head followed over to Georgia's desk. There, sitting so innocently next to the computer, where it always lived, was a little tube of tinted lip balm that was her best friend's signature. It was a very calm color, but added just a bit of shimmer…and of course…it _was_ cold outside…her lips might get chapped if she didn't use _some_ thing. Squinting her eyes as she made her decision, Louise walked over in a huff and swiped some of the balm over her lips. She rubbed her lips together, determined to convince herself that this was NOT because she was going to be seeing a blonde headed bozo later that day… She hurriedly donned all of her winter gear and then stormed out of the room with her backpack, embarrassed at herself. Once out of the building, she felt the cold bite at the heat that had risen to her cheeks. At least she could blame the blush on the cold weather…

Her morning class was uneventful and lunch was minimal and quiet. Her lecture class in the early afternoon seemed to last forever, though, and at one point the student in the seat next to her shot her a "What's wrong with you?" look. Louise answered with a quizzical expression. He leaned over.  
"Your jitters are bouncing the whole table….you okay?" he whispered. A flush burned at her cheeks. She'd been nervously bouncing her leg for most of the class, and now that she was aware and had stopped, her leg was actually kind of tired. Her head snapped back down to her notebook and focused on keeping her body still for the remainder of class. _"Ugh…what's wrong with me?"_ Louise wondered to herself. She asked the same question in multiple different forms until the teacher dismissed the class.

3:15. With a big inhale of sharp, frigid air - _"Man, Georgia wasn't kidding…",_ Louise thought - she huffed out, cracked her neck to the side, and went off in the direction of the library.

….. ….. ….. ….. ….. ….. …..

Logan had woken up groggy but excited. He'd slipped into shorts and a tshirt to grab some coffee from the lobby, too late to have caught breakfast. He'd checked his emails and other notifications on his computer before taking a shower and getting dressed. Then he'd sat at the desk, sketching out some ideas for work. Hearing the telltale sign of hunger grumble up from his stomach, he decided to go get lunch and then camp out at the library until his only appointment for the day – Louise Belcher.

He'd picked a comfortable spot in the library to scan through some comic books until she showed up. He read and jotted down ideas on his phone. He was trying to be chill and mature, but honestly there was a brunette jogging around through his brain, distracting him from his distractions. Students had been bustling around the library all afternoon and checking the time on his phone, he decided to move somewhere near the front so he'd be able to see Louise arrive. There were a group of soft, arm chairs near the entrance so he lounged back into one of them, pulling his left leg up and resting his ankle on his other knee.

Not more than 5 minutes later, he watched as a familiar brunette bustled into the library, swinging her head from side to side evidently looking for someone. Logan stayed put with a grin on his face and one eyebrow up, amused. The young woman pulled her phone out and checked the screen. She turned sideways and he could see her profile, noticing that her face was turned down into a frown. Then her hand whipped up to her mouth and viciously smooshed back and forth against her lips. _"Hmm?...Did she miss some food on her mouth?"_ Logan mused. _"Alright…here we go!"_ he thought and stood up to go toward Louise. It was a good thing he did because in that instant she was on the move, probably to look for him. His long legs caught up to her quickly and silently, and he stepped right up behind her, essentially becoming her shadow. The goal was to step with the same foot at the same time as hers, as closely as possible, without her noticing. He was so close in fact that he almost brushed against Louise's hair. This was ridiculously fun for him, and when a person walked past the two, the girl swallowed a laugh as Logan put a finger up to his lips to make sure she didn't say anything.

 _"What's her problem?"_ Louise thought as she passed a girl who stared at her with laughter in her eyes. "And where is that loser?…" Louise mumbled, obliviously to her tall, blonde shadow. She let out a sigh and scanned some study tables a ways in front of her looking for Logan. After another sigh she grumbled, "Oh this is ridiculous…" and pulled out her phone to text him. A second after her message sent, she heard a "ding" sound out from right behind her. Literally, right behind her. She spun around so fast and her nose was almost buried in a man's shirt, about chest high. He was almost right on top of her with mere inches between them. Her eyes shot up and found exactly what she suspected – Logan's face grinning down at her.

Logan barely registered the devilish look of glee flash across Louise's upturned face before he felt her fist jab into his stomach. He bent over on impulse – she hadn't really hit him that hard - and due to their proximity, he was essentially slouching over her, draped onto her right shoulder. She laughed a sort of maniacal giggle, and then with one step back, she brought her right hand up and patted Logan's left cheek twice.

"My fist feels _much_ better now. Thanks!" she gloated, looking right into Logan's eyes. He stared right back and then, glancing down her face, he noticed a very slight shimmer dancing on her lips. _"Is she wearing makeup?"_ Logan thought. Louise noticed the movement of his eyes and her breath hitched, catching her off guard, and she coughed taking several steps back then. Logan grinned. _"Dang..."_ she thought, _"I wonder if he can still see the lipgloss…did I not get it all off?"_ Her eyes widened a little and then glanced to the side to avoid his eye contact which made Logan's grin grow.

"What's a'matter Louise-ee Bel-cheese-ee? Too close for comfort?" he teased and after straightening up, took a step closer to her, essentially eliminating any space between them. Louise stiffened up.

"Woah woah woah there, bean pole - personal space!" she recovered and put two hands to his chest to push him back. "I could get you fined for sexual harassment," she added with a teasing raise of her eyebrows.

"That's a serious threat, Little Lou Lou. You could really mess somebody's life up," Logan warned.

"Better be on your best behavior then," Louise said dryly as she removed her gloves and relaxed her posture.

"So what's the game plan? What shenanigans are we getting into here?" Logan asked with curiosity in his voice. Louise grinned.

"Follow me, knave!" she hollered, much too loudly for being in a library, with her arm pointed up in the air.  
"To death, my queen!" Logan answered with a deep bow. He was rewarded with a laugh from Louise as she bounced off into the library.

After walking through some aisles Logan found themselves in an area somewhat familiar.  
"Huh….comics. That's ironic,…" he muttered to himself feeling amused.  
Louise looked up to him. "What'd ya say?" she asked.  
"Comics. I like comics," he replied with a coverup smile. It was true, after all. He did like comics, and she already knew that, but she didn't need to know he'd spent the last few hours looking at all of the ones he was interested in. Louise skimmed one of the shelves, and finding a book that interested her, pulled it from the shelf and fanned the pages.  
She took a big whiff and sighed. Logan just chuckled. Logan picked his own and they found a table to sit at. Logan opened his book, but was surprised when he looked over at Louise. She'd rummaged through her backpack and dug out a notebook. Flipping through the pages she settled on a particular panel, weighted the comic open with another book, and then began to scribble around in her notebook. An eyebrow lifted on Logan's face as he leaned over to see what she was doing.

The pencil sketched sloppy, short lines onto the paper, but eventually Logan made out a face, then a rough outline of hair. The style was supposed to be similar to the comic book's, he realized.

"Are you….trying to draw this?" Logan asked, very curious. Louise shot her arm out around the comic and her notebook, then buried her head down into it, attempting to block his view.  
"Don't look! Not til it's done," she ordered, and then scooted her paper away from him.

An idea struck Logan.  
"Hey, gimme a piece of paper and a pen."  
Louise looked up. "Why?"  
"Just do it."  
Logan heard the sound of paper ripping and then smiled as she slid a piece over to him and dug around in her bag again, finding a pen.

"Thanks!" he said and then he examined his own comic book for some inspiration. His pen began to sketch line after line, merging them into shapes and shades. It's like his pen couldn't stop and would only lift momentarily to be repositioned onto the paper. Logan stole glances at Louise, noting her hair, facial lines, how her eyes were set. Little details like how high her nose was and where her ears began and ended. Louise would occasionally glance over, but Logan mirrored her posture, hiding his own drawing behind his arm. They spent a half hour or so in that manner before he set his pen down in satisfaction declaring, "Done!"

Louise poked her head up out of her burrow, very much like a turtle looking up out of its shell.  
"What'd you dra—" was all she could get out as her eyes settled on the drawing. It was her. He'd transformed her into a comic book character and she had jumped right out of the pages onto his paper. The style was identical to that of the book open in front of him. Her hair was just right, and her face stylistically accurate. The difference though, was that he'd drawn her as a super villain. She was in a dynamic pose, with her fist clad in a pink leather glove equipped with brass knuckles, flying up and almost off of the paper. She was dressed in a black, fitted tuxedo, pink vest, with pink bunny ears and coat tails shooting out behind her.  
"Wooooah ho ho ho. Hold on. What is that?! How did you-?" Louise managed. Then she watched as Logan scribbled something on the bottom of the paper and slid it over to her. She examined the scribble.

"To Four Ears - LBB"

"Ah! Why'd you do that!? It was so cool until you ruined it with your signature!" Louise teased. "Honestly though, I'll admit it, it is pretty good. Where'd you learn that?"

Logan shrugged. "It probably started with graffiti. Do you remember that incident with Fischoeder's fancy new garage? And then that obnoxious billboard Pesto put up?" Then he pointed his thumbs at himself. "Thisss guy."

"No way! Wow. Gotta hand it to ya, Logan. That was gutsy. Pesto went crazy! So are you an artist or something…?"

"I guess? I just like it, and comics happen to be what I do best. I like to design my own skateboards too. Now lemme see yours," he said as he started to reach past her, toward her notebook.

"Hah! Like hell you get to see mine!" she retorted and pulled her notebook up into her arms, shielding it from Logan's eyes.

"Oh come one!" Logan begged as he tried to wrestle the notebook from her.

"Nope!" she said and ducked out from under his arms. Logan was ahead of her movement though and maneuvering behind her, wrapped both of his arms around her and her clutched notebook, pinning her arms to herself. He leaned his head down by her ear. "Let me see," he whispered. Her body fought against his hold. "Looouuisseee…. Let me seeeee," he taunted, still fighting like a boa trying to keep its prey. Logan decided to play dirty. "One last chance," he offered.

"Over my dead bod-" Her words were cut short as her body responded to the sensation of air being blown into her ear. Logan had released his grip just in time for one of her hands to shoot up to her ear, leaving her notebook much more exposed. Then it was snatched out of her grasp. Mortified, she looked up at Logan with anger and embarrassment mingling together across her facial features.

Logan started to laugh. "It's uh…" he managed between chuckles. "Wow, Louise, I mean really…" he laughed again. "I think a chicken could do better!" he finally blurted out. Then he looked at Louise, whose head was hanging down. _"Ah shoot….guess I went to far_ ," he thought guiltily. As he was about to apologize, Louise's head rolled up and murder was written across her face. Logan imagined that this was what victim's saw before a serial killer chopped their heads off…Then his instincts kicked in. Before Louise knew it, Logan had grabbed his own drawing off the table and with her notebook still in hand, 'booked' it, out of the library.

"BUUUUSH!" she yelled after him and she scooped up her own belongings before running after. A library assistant hollered at both of them, but the two were out the door before she could catch up. Logan didn't stop once outside. He kept on running, dodging students, and checking back over his shoulder to see where the psychopath was. Louise had slung her bag over her shoulder and was in hot pursuit and Logan let out a cackle when she made eye contact with him – he stuck his tongue out at her. He turned back around and heard something like a muffled roar. "Oooh you're totally dead, man," Logan joked to himself.

Louise wasn't the most in shape person, and with the air being so cold outside, her lungs were starting to burn. "Oooo I'm gonna kill him!" she vented to herself, but her run slowed down to a jog, and eventually she stopped in favor of resting her hands on her knees as she bent over for air.  
"Logan!" she yelled at him catching his attention. The tone of her voice was threatening yet contained an undertone of surrender. Logan stopped running and turned around to see Louise bent over, one hand on her knee and the other out in the air waving around as if she had a white flag in it. He sauntered back to her and held out her notebook after tucking his drawing in between two of the pages.

While her head was still down, she patted around on Logan's coat with her outstretched hand until she found purchase on the pocket. Grabbing hold, she pulled him toward her as she shot up to her full height just to glare at him.

"Listen, I don't really wanna kill you, it's such a messy job after all, but you make it so…so…tempting." The words slithered from her lips but Logan merely smiled, feeling very entertained. He shoved her notebook against her and then grabbed the hand that was holding onto his pocket.

"You know what, Louise? It's kind of chilly out here. How about something warm to drink?" he asked attempting to bribe her into a better mood. Then he started to lead her off to where he'd parked.

….. ….. ….. ….. …..

The passenger in the car was full of mumbles and grumbles. The driver, however, was contentedly humming and tapping his fingers lightly on the steering wheel to some unheard song. A frustrated Louise was almost always entertaining.

"So I just gotta know, Doodle Bug, are you mad cuz' I made fun of you, or because I'm _better_ than you?"  
Her eyes snapped over to him and then squinted into a glare which made Logan laugh. A slight grin pulled at the corner of Louise's mouth as his laugh melted some of her frustration. She let out a "tch" and a "hmph" through her nose, before relaxing into the seat.

"Fine. It's good, way better than mine," she conceded, though barely audible, and with an eyeroll.  
"Huuuuh? I couldn't hear you. Wanna say that again, louder?" Logan teased.  
"Don't push it, Bush."  
Logan stole a glance at Louise and found her looking at his drawing. _"Should I tell her?"_ He wondered. _"Nah, not yet."_  
"Where are we going anyway?" Louise asked, her voice sounding normal again.

"Coffee? I know we keep getting coffee, but – "

"Oh! Yes! Coffee. Hey, turn here," Louise directed. Logan's eyebrows went up at the sudden change in her demeanor. After following her directions, they ended up in the parking lot of a supercenter.

"Uhhh…" Logan questioned.

"Georgia and I need coffee. And toilet paper. Let's go!" Louise called out and then exited the warmth of the car to traverse the parking lot.  
"Hey! Wait up!" Logan called and quickly unbuckled his seatbelt to follow. Catching up to her, he tucked his shoulders up around his exposed neck and shoved his hands down into his pockets.  
"And when did I become your errand boy?"  
"I didn't make you my errand boy!," Louise scoffed, pretending to be offended. "I made you my taxi driver," she finished. Logan just grinned as he pulled a cart out from the store's entryway. Louise got out her phone and called Georgia. The conversation was entertaining to listen to, even if he could only hear one side of it. From what he could tell, Georgia questioned how Louise got to the store without her driving them there and then when Louise spilled that she was with Logan, he could hear the squeal of glee from the other girl and watched as Louise pulled the phone from her ear in pain. Then the conversation turned to a list of other things the two girls needed. Once off the phone, Louise turned her attention to Logan as they walked down the coffee aisle.

"Well, my list grew. Anything you need while we're here? Reader glasses? A walking cane? Denture toothpaste? _Depends?"_ she whispered.

"Har har. I'm not _that_ old."

"It's okay, Logan. You don't need to be ashamed of your incontinence," she said loudly enough that a couple of girls nearby heard and glanced over. "We can pick something up when we go over to get you some Rogaine." She heard stifled giggles from the girls.

"Ah, that'd be perfect. While we're on that side, we can pick up some Preparation H for you," Logan shot back.  
"Woah! Woah, buddy! Watch your volume! And it's not Preparation H I'm out of. It's the Ducolax," she said without missing a beat. They both heard whispers from the girls as they exited the aisle and headed for the toilet paper.

The two meandered through the store collecting the rest of the items for Georgia and Louise, plus a few things for Logan. After choosing a checkout lane, they settled into a mildly uncomfortable silence. Walking to the checkout lanes was a young girl finishing up her own shopping. Her brown eyes scanned down each lane to see which was least busy and ended up standing behind Louise and Logan.

"This is taking forever," she muttered to herself, but was loud enough that Logan turned his head to see who was behind them. He accidentally made eye contact with the young woman.

The girl's face lit up. "Hey, wait a minute….You're that guy that came to our class, right? The publishing guy?" she said. Noticing a girl standing with him, but not being able to see her face, she continued, "Sooo is that the girlfriend you talked about?" she pried with a flirtatious smile.

Louise had been counting the money in her billfold when she heard a female's voice address Logan behind her. Tucking the money away before turning to inquire, she was shocked to hear that she'd just been accused of being Logan's girlfriend. Her head spun and her eyes met with…..Margot.

"Greetings, Margie."

"Louise?!" The flirtatious smile vanished as a look of confusion transformed her face. " _You're_ the girlfriend?!"

It took only milliseconds for Louise's brain to make a decision. She could deny the charge since technically, they weren't boyfriend/girlfriend, and _technically_ , she wasn't hanging out with him to be his real girlfriend anyway, or she could lie, jump in with both feet, and then get a gauge from Logan to see if he was taking all the bait she was throwing at him. Mischievousness won, and as Logan was just about to open his mouth in denial, Louise looped her arm through his and tucked herself up against his side. Without a word she slyly grinned at her classmate as if daring her to ask the question again.

Logan was dumbstruck at first. Then he was hyper-aware of Louise's petite form pushing against his side. She fit very well there, he thought. So well in fact…...he unhooked his arm from hers and instead, wrapped it around her waist to pull her in closer. He wanted to push his luck and place a little peck on the top of her head, but decided that today was not a good day to die.

Turning to Margot, he casually answered, "You got it," with a wink. Then he was being tugged slightly toward the front of the store as he heard Louise speak up to him.

"Logie, the line moved. Can you help me put our stuff up on the belt?" she asked, her voice dipped in sugar. Logan imagined that if her classmate hadn't been there, that sentence would have gone something like "Hey Stankface! We're up. Let's get a move on, Bushbutt." He had to resist the urge to laugh.

Louise and Logan both played sweet until they were walking out to the car. Logan pushed the cart and watched as Louise was physically trying to shake off the sick, sticky, sugary sweetness of the act she'd just pulled.  
"Yuck!" she exclaimed with a shiver. Logan outwardly laughed, but to himself, he was noticing how cold his side was now that a certain little punk wasn't nestled up beside him.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"Sooo….that was Margot….She's in my English class. But you know that…Not my favorite person in the world….not that I have many favorite people to begin with…" Louise found herself rambling in an effort to counter the silence that was impending. The drive so far had been just Louise whistling random tunes and giving directions intermittently. She had made the decision to act as his girlfriend to get a feel for how her plan was going, and at first, it appeared that Logan was already sufficiently caught on her hook, but as soon as they'd exited the store, he'd gone taciturn and Louise couldn't get a good read on him.

"You know, you really would make a good taxi driver. I like 'em quick and quiet," she ventured, trying to lure him out of his silence. She studied his face. His eyes looked focused. His jaw clenched, but maybe not in an angry way? Maybe just frustration? _"Is he mad at me? It's Margot's fault. I was just going along with it_ …" Louise conjectured, but that didn't seem quite right. There was something hidden in his thoughts and if he wasn't going to hand it over, Louise would just have to dig it out.

"Oh I give up! Logan. Logan Berry Bush, will you say something, please." It was more of a demand than a request. Logan blinked several times, as if he'd been woken up, then turned to look at his companion.  
"What?" he asked, genuinely confused.  
"What "'what'"? You haven't said a single word. If you're angry, then let it out! It's okay to feel things. Didn't your shrink teach you that?" She paused. "Ok. Take me for a glorious example - I get mad 'n' I just gotta punch something! Mad? Punch! Mad? Punch!," she said while punching the unsuspecting air in front of her. "See? Then I'm happy again. Find what makes _you_ happy again." Louise put her arms out in exasperation as she finished her mini tirade.

"Oh. I'm not mad. I'm…..processing," Logan said and he cocked his head to the side.  
"Oh? Processing what?"  
Logan went silent again for a moment, though he stole a glance at Louise.  
"I'll let ya know once it's processed," he answered. Louise just huffed in response, but they were pulling into the parking lot by her dorm building so she wasn't too bothered anymore.

The car hummed softly in the parking lot, letting out a gentle stream of exhaust. Louise side glanced over to Logan who still seemed to be lost in the outer spaces of his own mind.  
"Are you coming up to my room? Georgia is in class still. It'd just be us," she casually asked.

"Huh?!" Logan replied snapping his eyes over to Louise.  
"Are. You. Com. Ing. Up. To. My .Room?" she repeated. _"What's wrong with him?..."_ she thought as she watched a visibly ruffled Logan start to putter about with his face growing increasingly rosy. He coughed and looked nervously back and forth a few times. Her head cocked to the side. His hand went up to the nape of his neck and scratched at the skin hiding under his hair. Louise examined what she had said to find any possible cause for his behavior… _"Is he thinking I meant…..Ha no….Is he?"_

"Maybe third times a charm. Hey, lunkhead. Are you going to help me take these bags up to my room, or do you want to wait here and I'll be right back after taking them up?"

The blush deepened on Logan's face, but now he just looked embarrassed.  
"Oh! Ah, I'll just wait here then."  
"So you're going to make me carry all of those by myself?"  
"Oh! Ah, no, then yeah, I'll carry them up with you."  
"So you are trying to see my room?"  
"No! I'm just – "  
"Logan?" The flustered man beside her went silent. Louise's voice dipped into a tease as she looked up at him through her eyelashes, "Were you having impure thoughts?" The look on his face was too much for Louise. She roared a victorious laugh.  
"Just get out and grab some bags, you pervert," she chirped as she opened her own car door to the cold.  
"I am not! Was not! Don't call me that!" Logan fumbled with his words, but mimicked Louise and got out of the car to help her carry the spoils inside. He sorted out his one bag and tossed it into the back seat then slammed the trunk closed and locked the car. Louise was already a few yards ahead of him, but he opted to leave the space alone. He needed the cold air and the distance for the moment.

After ditching her winter gear, the contents of her shopping bag were spilled out onto her bed. Silently, Louise began to sort and put away the items. Logan sauntered over to her and leaned against the edge of the bed, watching as she threw multiple things onto the other bed in the room. Upon scanning the remaining purchases, Logan's eyes settled on a pink stuffed toy, halfway hidden by a blanket. Curiosity took control of his hand and soon he was face to "face" with a stuffed pink bunny, with an oversized head and a poor stitch job. He pinched one of the ears between his thumb and finger and pulled it through, getting a feel for the fabric.

"No way…" he muttered. Realizing exactly which prized possession was currently in his hands, he quickly turned expecting to find a furious Louise. Luck was on his side, however, and she was currently stashing some things in the bathroom. He hid the hat-turned-stuffed-toy back into its blanket cave and went over to the desk. Louise came out of the bathroom as Logan took a seat in the chair.

"That'll do it," Louise chimed with a grin.

"What now?"

"Definitely not what you were thinking earlier…" she teased.

"Ugh. I really wasn't –"

"Whatever. I get it ok? I'd have trouble resisting myself. Can't imagine how hard it must be…for…a… _pervert_ ," Louise taunted as she drew out the last few words. Logan threw his hands up in the air in frustration and rolled his eyes.

"Will you stop using that word? Especially on a college campus?" he pleaded.

Louise stroked her chin thoughtfully as if she was actually considering his plea.  
"I guess pedophile might be in better taste here," she casually answered.

"Louise!" Logan hollered. "Definitely worse. You could get me arrested. And once I got out, do you _know_ what kind of retribution would be in store for you then?...Hmm, you of all people _should_ know. Better than most, actually, just how much I like getting revenge." A grin played at Logan's lips as he straightened up off of the chair, stuck his hands into his pockets, and took a step closer to Louise. She found his words challenging, and continued to tease.

"I'll concede to 'Kiddie Fiddler'," Louise offered.

"Kiddi-…good grief, Louise," he scoffed, and took a small step closer. "Gonna keep digging yourself a hole, here?" He leaned over just slightly. Louise was backing away from Logan but soon found her back up against her wall.

"Still not good enough? How about Hot for Tots?" she continued; Logan inched closer. "The Candyman?" Another inch. "Logan's L-L-Lolitas?" she stammered as Logan's face came close to hers. _Very_ close. Dangerously close.

"Are you having memory loss problems? Because it seems like you forgot what happened to you the _last_ time you acted up. Do you need…a reminder?" Logan said in an alluring, smooth voice. His breath danced warmly down to her lips. She couldn't help but swallow hard and blink a few times. But with all of these types of encounters with Logan, she was becoming more accustomed to the proximity…and the flirting. And though the room felt incredibly small at that moment, and the space between them even smaller, she ventured a hand up to the nape of his neck. The effect on Logan was visible as his eyes went from half-lidded temptation to wide-eyed surprise. She dared to look right at him and then went up on her toes, using her hand on his neck to balance herself, and positioned her lips right by his ear, "You'd like that, wouldn't you?" she whispered.

Frozen. He couldn't move. Internally he admitted defeat at the hands of Louise. Should he go for it? He opened his mouth, toying with the idea of saying "yes", when he felt a playful slap against his cheek, and the pressure of her hand missing from his neck. He tried blinking away his surprise and watched as she ducked out from under his looming figure.

"Boy, that was _some_ retribution….didn't think I'd survive! You _really_ had me there, Logan." She sat down on her chair.

After straightening up, he turned to look at her. The puzzlement came back from earlier that day. He had to figure this out and rather quickly, because he wasn't going to be in town much longer. _"Be bold, Bush!"_ he cheered himself on. He sauntered over to her with a new resolve.

Louise had turned away from Logan in favor of hiding the heat on her cheeks. She was taking a moment to compose herself after her supposed victory. Wanting to throw out another verbal jab, she turned around and found Logan's torso a foot from her face. Then two arms came down on either side of her, his hands resting on the desk's edge. His torso leaned out, allowing his frame to bend over and his face came down inches from hers again. She was surprised, and basically trapped. "L-Logan," she barely uttered.

"I wasn't done yet. And you just walked away from me. How rude. Looks like you _do_ need a reminder."

He was leaning in and Louise's brain panicked as it tried to make sense of what was about to go down. Her eyes were glued to his lips as they came within inches of hers, tilted to the side, and parted slightly as Logan breathed, " _Louise_ …" Then he moved just to the side of her mouth, and whispered, his lips grazing the corner of her mouth, "You don't wanna play with me….I _really_ hate losing." Then he pecked her on the cheek, and reaching his right arm past the edge of her desk, grabbed the CD he'd bought her, and took it with him over to her bed to look at.

 _"What the hell,"_ Louise thought. _"What the frickin' hell."_ She turned in her chair to put her back to the smug man. Her body felt…kind of tingly? Her hands were limp in her lap and the confusion kept her eyes unfocused, but her teeth captured the side of her lower lip. There was a weird sensation in her abdomen. She kind of felt sick to her stomach. But not in a throw up way? It was like a pressure. Kind of like when she'd make-out with Rud- Her hand flew up to clasp over her mouth in disbelief. _"Am I turned on…by_ _ **Logan**_ _?"_

A tune whistled through the tense air in the room, making its way to Louise. She hazarded a glance over her shoulder at Logan and saw his lips pursed – he was whistling one of the tunes from the CD. He caught her movement and the sound stopped as he connected his puckered lips in a "smooch" that coincided with a wink at Louise. She whipped back around and Logan laughed.

"I warned you, Little Lou Lou. Your actions have consequences," he chided. Louise turned back around to face him and found a smug and impish expression on his face.  
"How much longer til your roommate comes back?" he added, his eyes not leaving hers.  
"A-a-a few hours…" Louise managed. Then she watched with horror as he stood up and came toward her again! _"Please no, please no…"_ she thought. _"If he gets that close again…I don't know what I'm gonna do!"_

"A few hours, huh? Well, Louise, that gives _us_ plenty a' time for whateeever we wanna do…" he implied heavily. Then he took the CD out of the case and popped it into the disc drive. "Like listen to this whole CD!" he finished innocently. Logan grinned down at Louise's stunned expression, pleased with his joke, and went back to sit on the edge of the bed.  
"Have you listened to it yet?"

It took a moment for the gears in her brain to start turning smoothly again.  
"Uh…yeah."  
"Not bad, is it."  
"Yeah, not bad," she mumbled.

So they sat and listened to the entire CD. Logan made commentary throughout, talking about his favorite riffs or drumbeats, the lyrics and the band mates - while Louise sat quietly for the most part, still reeling from Logan's fake advances. One question kept turning over and over in her mind, _"Did I_ _ **want**_ _him to kiss me?"_ She couldn't get herself to actually listen to the music or Logan. Her thoughts needed to be worked out. While the songs played, Louise mulled over that one question, and many "what ifs" and as she did so, things started to clear up. The CD eventually ended and Louise had come to grips with her present truth – for whatever reason, whether that was her physical attraction to Logan, his ability to charm, the goal of dishing out heartbreak as revenge, or her own lack of intimacy for such a long time – she _did_ want him to kiss her. Now.

The distance from her seat at her desk to Logan sitting on the edge of her bed was maybe 6 feet. It felt like 60 as she closed the gap. She could see the confusion on his face, but she had a goal – no time to enjoy his reaction. With her left foot planted in the space between his feet on the floor, she hiked her right knee up onto the bed on the outer side of his leg. In that half-straddle, she put both hands at the back of his neck and pulled him to her. The relief came the instant she pushed her lips into his.

Logan reacted. His arms wrapped tightly around her lower back and made sure there was no space in between their bodies. He'd held himself back when he was teasing, but she was asking for it now…literally and physically. Without losing her lips, his right arm reached down to lift her other knee to the other side of him. Louise was grateful because the full straddle was much more comfortable than her previous stance. She relaxed, sitting down onto his lap, and they fell into an intoxicating rhythm of kissing. He had her top lip…then he'd pull off enough to let her latch back on the way she wanted. She tilted her head to the left. They'd switch. Her fingers would press into his lower scalp while one of his hands cupped the side of her face gently.  
Minutes passed. Was it just minutes? Logan pulled away.  
"Louise…." he huffed, catching his breath, eyes still closed. Their foreheads resting together.  
"Mmm?" she hummed.  
"What are we doing here?"

Her dark eyes opened and studied Logan's. " _What_ _ **am**_ _I doing?"_ she asked herself. She didn't have to come up with an answer though, because the sound of keys jingling on the other side of the door yanked them both out of their moment, and Louise made it to her desk chair _just in time_ before an oblivious Georgia opened the door.

 **a/n**  
 **Hee Hee, that was fun to write. ;)**


End file.
